(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Halle Berry admits that she didn't fall prey to love at first sight when she met fianc Olivier Martinez.

The 46-year-old actress and the 46-year-old French actor became engaged in January.

The pair met on the set of thriller Dark Tide and Halle reveals that she didn't instantly engage with Olivier romantically.

"When I first met Olivier, there wasn't the initial 'I'm in love!' It was something that grew more gradually and it feels more real because of that," she told InStyle magazine.

Halle has experienced fruitless romantic relationships and failed marriages in the past and she is currently embroiled in a custody battle over daughter Nahla with Gabriel Aubry.

Still, the star has faith in love and she appreciates the way Olivier balances her out.

"It's another one of those never-say-never things. I'm a hopeless romantic, and I won't stop till I get it right!" she gushed.

"[Olivier's] silly, a clown, and very much the life of the party, which is good for someone like me. Danny Downer been there, done that. Now I like Louie Lightfoot!"

Halle and Olivier are rumoured to be planning to wed in Cape Town, South Africa, the city where Dark Tide was filmed. (C) Cover Media