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David Justice is reflecting on why his marriage to Halle Berry came to an end, nearly three decades after their high-profile split.
The former MLB star, now 59, appeared on Matt Barnes' All the Smoke podcast, where he spoke candidly about the 1997 divorce. Justice admitted he lacked experience in relationships, having only been in one serious romance before marrying Berry.
"I was a young Midwest guy, looking at my mom as an example," he said. "Back then, I thought a wife should cook, clean, and be motherly. I started asking myself, 'If we have kids, is this the woman I want to build a family with?'" Justice recalled that Berry proposed to him after just five months of dating. He accepted, even though he wasn't sure his heart was fully in it. "I didn't want to say no and hurt her feelings. I was just in the moment," he explained.
The couple married in January 1993, but the relationship began to strain as Berry's acting career accelerated. "We spent a lot of time apart," Justice said, adding that the marriage "probably could have made it" if they'd known about therapy at the time.
Justice also shared his frustration over being linked in the public's mind to abuse allegations Berry later made against an unnamed ex. "She let the world think it was me," he said. "She never corrected it, and I thought that was wrong." After separating in 1996 and finalizing their divorce in 1997, Justice went on to marry Rebecca Villalobos in 2001. They share three children.
Berry, who turns 59 on Aug. 14, later wed singer Eric Benét and actor Olivier Martinez, with whom she has an 11-year-old son, Maceo. She also shares a 17-year-old daughter, Nahla, with former partner Gabriel Aubry.
Since 2020, Berry has been in a relationship with musician Van Hunt. While the two have discussed marriage, Berry says they don't feel the need to wed to validate their love.
Looking back, Justice acknowledged Berry's deep feelings for him. "That girl really did love me," he said. "I can see why she was so mad at me."