Halle Berry's Ex-Husband Opens Up About Their Relationship 28 Years After Their Divorce, Causing a Stir

The former Atlanta Braves All-Star, who has been married to his current wife for 24 years, recently reflected on the acrimonious end of his marriage with the "Catwoman" star.

Halle Berry's ex-husband, David Justice, appeared on the YouTube show "All the Smoke with Matt Barnes and & Stephen Jackson" in an episode released on Thursday, August 7. During the segment, Justice opened up about his relationship with the actress, reflecting on how much their romance exposed them to the spotlight.

The former couple had met in May 1992 and wed not long after, in 1993. However, it wasn't until their separation in 1996 that the attention took a negative turn.

"She asked me to marry her after knowing me for five months. I said OK, because I couldn't say no. You know?" Justice said. "And I said okay, but I don't know if my heart was really into it, but I didn't want to make her feel bad and say no, you know or, like — I was just in the moment."

Justice admitted that Berry's proposal caught him off guard, but despite his uncertainty, the pair still married. The former baseball player said he and Berry spent a lot of time apart due to her travel schedule for work.

In hindsight, he felt their relationship could have worked if they had gone to therapy. "If we knew about therapy, we probably could have made it. And we never had any major issues like that. It's just that I — because I was young and had only been in, honestly, one real relationship before her," Justice said.

He added that, at the time, his knowledge and understanding of relationships was limited. "So, 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, traditional you know," he explained.

He continued, "And then I'm thinking okay, if we have kids, you know, is this the woman I want to have kids with and build a family with. And at that time as a young guy, she don't cook, don't clean, don't really seem like motherly and then we start having issues."

Justice's remarks about traditional relationship roles rubbed fans the wrong way, as one person exclaimed, “This is so insane. This man was a drug addict and he abused her but ‘he left cause she didn't cook or clean!’”

“So unnecessary,” another said. “He is so childish it’s 30 years later,” a third added. “You look goofy and it's disrespectful,” someone else wrote.

Justice later shared that he and Berry never had infidelity issues. However, once the "honeymoon stage" was over, he realized that Berry wasn't the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

"So, February 1996, I told her, 'Yeah, I can't do this no more.' We don't have any kids. You said you wouldn't want any money from me if we — 'cause really, she didn't have any money," he claimed.

He continued, "I was the one who bought the house in LA. I was the one who had my house in Atlanta. I'm really footing everything. And I said, you know, you said you didn't want any money, so we don't have any kids. We should just make a clean break."

Berry apparently didn't want to accept the break-up, and coincidentally, a slew of rumors about Justice — including being involved with other women — began swirling around. The 59-year-old recalled his mother encouraging him to "take the high road," and not speak ill of his then-wife.

However, another rumor emerged, alleging that Justice was abusive towards Berry. The actress had once opened up about being in a relationship with a man who had hit her on the side of her head, causing permanent hearing loss in her left ear.

Berry had never named her attacker, but the public was quick to assume it was Justice. The former outfielder has often denied ever laying a hand on Berry, but the rumor has persisted and followed him for decades.

"One thing I didn't like is, [...] she let you think that. She let the world think it. She didn't come out and say, 'Oh, no, no, it wasn't David. But I'm not going to say who it was, but it wasn't him.' No, she let the world think that it was me," Justice said.

The pair finalized their divorce in June 1997. Justice later remarried Rebecca Justice in 2001, and the pair welcomed three children together. Still, despite moving on quietly with his life, the rumor that he abused Berry continued to haunt him.

He had remained mostly silent about the speculation, but eventually spoke up in 2015. Justice went on a rant on X (then known as Twitter), addressing the allegations in tweets directed at Berry. He emphasized that he had never hit her during their relationship.

"All I was trying to do was let the world know that David Justice is not the person who hit her on her head and caused her hearing loss. Not only did David Justice not do that, David Justice never hit her, period," he told People at the time.

Justice's messages on X coincided with Halle's separation from her third ex-husband, Olivier Martinez, and netizens questioned why he was only speaking up after so long. He explained that he didn't want to fight Berry in the media amid their split.

He also admitted that he lacked the resources he needed to truly set the record straight. "As a baseball player back in those days, there were no publicists; I didn't have a team. Halle had managers, lawyers, publicists, etc. It was Team Halle versus me," he said.

But, by keeping quiet, more hearsay emerged, and the longer he stayed quiet, the more people thought the rumors were true. When he finally spoke out, it was as much about clearing his name as it was about protecting his family’s dignity.