When Halle Bailey moved from Georgia to Los Angeles as a wide-eyed preteen almost 15 years ago, the city seemed like a wonderland full of possibilities.
“Being from the south, when you first come to Los Angeles, you say, 'hollywood. Wow. This is where all the celebrities are,'” says the Grammy-nominated singer and actress, who at any moment thought she might run into Halle Berry, the similarly named actress she's often confused with, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In Sunday Funday, the people of Los Angeles tell us step by step their ideal Sunday in the city. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
But after living in the city for a while, Bailey, now 26, says she realized that Los Angeles is made up of all kinds of different areas: some “where people are really Hollywood, bougie” and others “where people are laid-back, like hippies,” she says. His favorite neighborhoods are Silver Lake, Venice and “places where people are like, yeah, one love,” he says, laughing.
Today, Bailey is one of the celebrities that people would love to see strolling down Hollywood Boulevard. She has built a career that bridges music, television and film: at age 13, she and her sister Chloe Bailey, known together as Chloe x Halle, had signed with Beyoncé's label; has earned six Grammy nominations (including one for his debut solo album released last fall); and played young Nettie in “The Color Purple” and starred as Ariel in Disney’s live-action film “The Little Mermaid,” a hugely successful role she has been reflecting on recently.
Bailey's next adventure? She stars in her first romantic comedy, Universal's “You, Me & Tuscany,” which hits theaters April 10. She plays Anna, a young woman who impulsively crashes into an empty Italian villa posing as the owner's fiancee.
“It felt good to play a young woman who was already an adult but was still discovering herself,” she says. “I felt like I was playing the essence of Halle who is finding herself now.”
On her perfect Sunday in Los Angeles, Bailey would have a day of fun with her 2-year-old son, Halo. This is what they would do.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
7:30 am: Wake up and take on mommy duties.
I love mornings. I leave the curtains open while I sleep because I like it when the sun wakes me up. We all doomscroll, which is kind of a bad thing to say, but the first thing I check is my phone. Then I have mommy duties right at 8 a.m. Sometimes earlier. [Halo] When I wake up, I have the opportunity to do some things for myself, like go outside and sit in the sun to meditate or stretch. I can't do it every day, but I try. Or I'll make a tea or a smoothie and just have a moment of gratitude for waking up that day.
8:30 am: Turn up the music.
Once Halo is on, we have breakfast right away. I don't know why I like hard-boiled eggs so much right now. [laughs]. But I love a boiled egg in the morning with avocado or hash browns. My baby also loves potato croquettes. I try to prepare a balanced breakfast and from there it's kind of a party.
We've been blasting Jill Scott's new album and it's really cool how the music you play in your home can change the mood, the vibe and bring good energy to the space you're in. And on a Sunday, I don't know if it's just the way I was raised, but I automatically think, “Okay, I need to get ready for this week. I need to reset the house.” So maybe I'm cleaning the kitchen or organizing toys, or making sure the bathroom is in order, or doing laundry while the music is blaring and we're dancing and having fun.
12:00 p.m.: Alone time while the baby naps.
I'll take a break for lunch. If I feel like cooking, I love to make comfort food like chicken and slaw and rice and macaroni and cheese. Something that is simply warm and comfortable. If I'm not doing that, I'm ordering wing stop either chipotle. I relax outside for a while until my son's nap time, which is around 12:30 pm. He sleeps until 3:30 pm, so then I have two hours to myself and sometimes I don't do anything. Sometimes I just need to sit down and be on my phone on TikTok or watching a show. I recently binged the new season of “Love is Blind.” I also started watching “Real Housewives” again, but, like, the first few seasons. I really love the show “My Strange Addiction.” It's so funny to me. Those are some guilt-free programs that I turn on and my brain can turn off.
I might even walk into the studio if I hear a melody in my head or play my guitar. Sometimes I can also take a nap and that feels great on a Sunday.
4 pm: Take an easy sunset walk.
If I feel like leaving the house, we'll go for a walk, to the park, or maybe even a sunset walk. I've always been a nature girl and I find that it calms me down and I can focus, especially at the beginning of a new week. There are a lot of really beautiful hikes in California, but I've found a few that are easy and safe to take a baby on, so I don't worry about him running in front of or behind me. On Sundays, you just want to rest, so you don't try to do a full workout. Sometimes we get halfway there and then we come back and go home. [laughs].
Near Studio City, there's a really good one called freyman [Canyon]. It's hard at first, but as you go up it gets easier and you see the view and you think, “I can do this.” We recently went to Point Dumewhich I had never been to, but saw the view on TikTok. It's a really beautiful beach walk in Malibu and I love it. The hike is super easy, but there is a field of flowers that you walk through to get to the viewpoint where everyone takes pictures overlooking the beach.
6:30 pm: Bath time
I love a bubble bath. If my son is with me that night, we make a lot of fun with toys in the bathroom environment. But if it's a solo night, it's like candles, lavender bubbles, the lights are dim, jazz music is playing in the background, like Billie Holiday, and that's the ultimate reset.
7:30 p.m.: Dinner and a show
If I have a babysitter, I might go out to dinner. I like luciawhich is a Caribbean restaurant in Hollywood. I think the first time I went, they had some really good oxtail mac and cheese. When I came back, the menu had changed and I ordered chicken adobo, which was also good. Furthermore, I loved the blue note recently. I saw Esperanza Spalding there last year.
22 hours: look at something low–bets before bed
Sometimes I try to force myself to turn off all the screens, all the phones, and go to bed because I need to sleep. It's either that or I'm awake watching something. I really like seeing things that make me feel like I can laugh and I don't have to think about it. I get very emotionally involved in the programs. If I try to watch “The Pitt” at the end of the day, it feels very emotionally draining. During the day it's fine, but at night I just need to laugh.
