Former MLB star David Justice has opened up about one of the reasons his marriage to Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry ended nearly 30 years ago, saying the couple’s very different expectations about family roles contributed to their split. Justice, who married Berry in 1993 and divorced her in 1997, made the comments during a recent appearance on the All the Smoke podcast, where he reflected on their early relationship and what ultimately didn’t work.
Justice said that when he began thinking about the possibility of having children and building a life together, he realized he had a “traditional” view of marriage shaped by his upbringing in the Midwest. “I’m looking at my mom — and I’m a Midwest guy — so, in my mind, I’m thinking a wife at that time should cook, clean, [be] traditional,” he explained, adding that Berry “didn’t cook, didn’t clean, didn’t really seem motherly” to him then, which led to friction between them.
He acknowledged that his own relationship experience was limited and that his expectations about roles in a marriage were narrow at the time, saying he and Berry started having issues as those differences grew more apparent. Justice also pointed to long periods apart due to Berry’s acting career as another factor that made their union challenging.
Berry, now 58, has not responded directly to this interview, but she previously addressed Justice’s remarks on social media with a wry comment referencing “cooking, cleaning and mothering,” a line many fans saw as a lighthearted rebuttal to his characterization.
The couple married after a whirlwind romance, they met in 1992 and wed five months later on New Year’s Day 1993, but their relationship was over by 1996 and legally ended in 1997. Berry has since had other relationships and children and recently has been in a long-term partnership with musician Van Hunt.
Justice later remarried in 2001 and is a father of three. In looking back on his split from Berry, he also suggested that, with more maturity and help like therapy, the outcome might have been different, underscoring that his perspective on marriage and relationships has evolved since the 1990s.
If you need a bit more context on how fans reacted or Berry’s broader comments about relationships since then, I can add that too.
