Actress Halle Berry refused to shower for 10 days as she played a drug-addicted prostitute in Spike Lee film Jungle Fever.

The Oscar winner reveals the long-running rumour about her poor hygiene on the set of the 1991 movie is true and she didn't wash for the duration of the job so she could accurately portray the character - although she felt sorry for her co-star Samuel L. Jackson.

She tells U.S. talk show host Wendy Williams, "(I played) a foul-mouthed crack-smoking hoe. It's true (I didn't wash), ask Sam Jackson, he had to get a whiff of it!"