Halle Berry's former husband has sparked backlash after revealing the reason why he "decided to leave" her.
The Oscar-winning actress' relationship with former MLB star David Justice began quickly.
The former couple met in May 1992, tied the knot in January 1993, and separated just three years later in February 1996. Their divorce was finalized in June 1997.
Justice, 59, recently opened up about the reasons behind their split during an appearance on Matt Barnes’ “All the Smoke” podcast.
Reflecting on their early days, the former athlete admitted that when the Catwoman star asked him to marry her after only five months of dating, he felt pressured to say yes.
“She asked me to marry her after knowing me for five months,” he said. “I said, ‘OK,’ because I couldn’t say no. Who’s going to say no at that time?”
He added: “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 [if] I was just in the moment.”
Justice explained that his traditional Midwestern upbringing shaped his expectations for a wife and mother - expectations he felt Berry didn’t meet at the time.
"My knowledge and my understanding, my wisdom around relationships just wasn't vast," he shared. “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, you know?” he said.
“Then I’m thinking, ‘OK, if we have kids, is this the woman I want to have kids with and build a family with?’ 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 added.
His comments were slammed on social media, with many criticizing his outdated expectations.
"Imagine expecting Halle Berry, the first Black Actress to earn $20m for a movie, The #1 most desirable woman in the world for decades, the first black woman to win an Oscar, to stay home to cook and clean. Men and audacity," one user said.
"She’s Halle f***in Berry bro.. you think God sent here down here to swiffer s***?? lol," another blasted, while a third added: "Lol, he really thought she was gonna stop her acting career and become a housewife."
The former Atlanta Braves player also noted that their busy careers created distance.
“We spent a lot of time apart because she was doing movies in this country, that country. And we honestly probably could have made it if I knew about therapy. If we knew about therapy, we probably could have made it,” he told Barnes.
Justice admitted their split wasn’t caused by major conflicts but rather his own immaturity and limited relationship experience. “We never had any major issues like that. It’s just… because I was young and had only been in one real relationship before her.”
Despite their divorce, Justice said the negative attention from the public and media didn’t begin until he decided to leave Berry in 1996.
At the time, Berry sought a restraining order against him, citing fear for her “personal safety and well-being,” though he publicly denied posing any threat, Page Six reported.
The Monsters Ball star went on to marry singer Eric Benét (2001–2005) and actor Olivier Martinez (2013–2016). She is currently dating singer Van Hunt, who revealed earlier this year that he proposed to Berry, though she has yet to accept.
Berry has two children: daughter Nahla, 17, with ex Gabriel Aubry, and son Maceo-Robert, 11, with Martinez.
On her approach to relationships, the Gothika star previously told The Drew Barrymore Show: “I’ve heard people say, ‘Something must be wrong with Halle Berry, she can’t keep a man.’ Who's to say I want to keep a man?"
"I don’t want to keep the wrong man. Like, I’m not crazy, right? So when you find that you make a mistake - we all make mistakes. We have a right to say, ‘Oh God, this was a mistake. Let me start again.’ We have the right to do that," she added.
Van Hunt echoed their mutual connection in an interview, saying, “I think we will get married just because, out of the people I’ve been married to, this is the person I should have married," cited by Today.
Berry added: “I feel like I should, we should get married, but it’s not because we feel like we have to. I think it’s something that we would like to do, just because we want that expression.” When asked about timing, she said simply, “soon”.