Thanks to her role as Leticia Musgrove in Monster's Ball, Halle Berry became the first (and, as of now, only) Black woman to win the Academy Award for best actress. However, the part almost went to Angela Bassett, who decided to turn down the part because she found the role demeaning. "I wasn't going to be a prostitute on film," she told Newsweek in June 2002. "I couldn't do that because it's such a stereotype about black women and sexuality." Later, she added, "I can't and don't begrudge Halle her success. It wasn't the role for me, but I told her she'd win, and I told her to go get what was hers."
Apparently, Vanessa Williams was also up for the role, but since she'd just had a baby, she wasn't comfortable accepting the role. In a July 2014 episode of Oprah's Master Class, Williams said, "I just had a baby, and I was like, 'I am not getting naked in front of a crew of people at this time!'" Later, she added, "I saw [Berry] win the Academy Award, I was happy for her, but given a different set of circumstances, I might have done that role."