Halle Berry: I'm 'Three Times the Girl I Usually Am'

MONDAY JANUARY 07, 2008 02:00 PM EST

Halle Berry says she's found the secret to surviving a glamorous Hollywood event while being seven-months pregnant.

"It is true that I am three times the girl I usually am. I have to say there are some really wonderful things that come along with that," she said Saturday night in accepting an award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. "This is the first red carpet that I've really walked down where I didn't have to think about holding in my stomach – because I can't."

Berry, 41, expecting her first child with boyfriend Gabriel Aubry, told the black-tie crowd of 1,700 at the festival's awards gala that she also can now finally enjoy a big dinner.

"It's the first time I've been to an awards show where they served a meal and I actually ate it – the whole thing," she said. "I was eating off everybody else's plate and that felt very liberating and good."

Berry, who most recently appeared in Things We Lost in the Fire, was presented with the Desert Palm Achievement Award.