Halle Berry secretly broke two ribs while filming her new movie ‘Bruised”

Speaking on ‘The Graham Norton Show’, she admitted: “On day two of a five-day fight sequence I was kicked and broke two ribs. It threatened production so I made the decision not to tell anyone in case we were shut down.

"I carried on and I think the fighter side of my training took over. It was only when we finished that I told everyone, and I went to the hospital!”

The ‘Monster’s Ball’ actress used her experience to “reimagine” the movie's protagonist for the movie and pushed for herself to become the director because she had such a clear vision for the film - but she admitted she didn't expect producers to agree to her "crazy" idea.

She said: “Originally when I read the script it was written for a 25-year-old white Irish Catholic woman, but I got the chance to reimagine her as a middle-aged black woman and was challenged to find the director.

"I realised that because the vision was so much in my head that I was going to have to tell the producers probably one of the funniest things they had ever heard – that I should direct it myself! It was crazy but to my surprise they said yes.”

Halle - who has children Nahla, 13, with former partner Gabriel Aubry, and eight-year-old Maceo with ex-husband Olivier Martinez - has "been bitten by the directing bug" after working on the film but admitted she'd think again before working both behind and in front of the camera on the same project.

She said: “I hope so, I loved it, but I doubt I will ever star in it and direct again – both jobs are large enough. I have been bitten by the directing bug and I have a lot of stories I’d love to tell.”

Watch the full interview with Halle on 'The Graham Norton Show' on Friday (05.11.21) night on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.