David Justice Explains Why His Marriage to Halle Berry Ended: Young, Wrong Expectations and No Therapy
Jordan Collins here. Okay, I’ll explain, but try to keep up. David Justice has finally put a tidy bow on why his marriage to Halle Berry imploded in the 1990s, and spoiler: it was mostly about youth, outdated expectations and not knowing how to repair things when careers and distance showed up.
Former major-leaguer David Justice, 59, laid out the details on Matt Barnes’ “All the Smoke” podcast on Thursday, giving a blunt, candid account of what went wrong between him and Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry. They married in January 1993 after meeting in May 1992 and separated in February 1996, with the divorce finalized in June 1997. Justice said his view of marriage then was steeped in the Midwestern, traditional model he’d learned from his family, and he admits now that his ideas about a wife’s role were narrow and immature.
“Because I was young and I had only, honestly, been in one relationship before her, my knowledge and my understanding, my wisdom around relationships just wasn’t vast,” Justice explained on the podcast. He described expecting a partner to “cook, clean” and to appear “motherly” if children were in the future. When Berry, who was becoming busier in her acting career, didn’t fit that template, Justice said the relationship began to fray.
Justice emphasized the split was not about infidelity on either side, saying, “We never had any issues about any women, other men.” Instead, it was distance, mismatched expectations and a lack of tools to handle the strain. He reflected on how the couple “spent a lot of time apart” as Berry’s career accelerated and acknowledged that if they had known the value of couples therapy then, things might have had a chance.
In a revelation that’s part mea culpa and part grievance, Justice also claimed that after he initiated the breakup, public perception cast him as the villain. Years later when Berry discussed an abusive relationship with an unnamed ex, Justice says she never publicly clarified that she was not referring to him, which he felt was unfair. “She let the world think it. She didn’t come out and say, ‘Nah, it wasn’t David,’” he said, calling that decision “dead wrong.”
Justice admitted that hindsight has softened his stance: he recognizes Berry’s strong feelings and that “that girl really did love me.” He said he sometimes wonders whether his youthful indecision—marrying after only five months of dating because he “couldn’t say no”—was the real root of it. He told Barnes he said yes to avoid hurting her, not because he was sure it was right.
The public saga followed them long after the split. Post-divorce, Justice remarried Rebecca Villalobos in 2001 and has three children with her. Berry went on to relationships and marriages with Eric Benét and Olivier Martinez, with whom she has son Maceo-Robert, and later had daughter Nahla with Gabriel Aubry. She has been linked with singer Van Hunt since 2020.
This frank interview adds nuance to a high-profile split that tabloid culture simplified decades ago. Justice’s reflections mix accountability about his youthful thinking with a clear complaint about how the narrative played out publicly—especially around the sensitive allegation years later that left him feeling misidentified.
If you were hoping for explosive new allegations, you’ll be disappointed: Justice keeps the story focused on immaturity, distance and missed opportunities for therapy. If you’re into a tidy moral, it’s that even celebrity relationships can implode on very ordinary faults: bad timing, cultural expectations and not asking for help. Glad I could clear that up for you.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and New York Post, All the Smoke podcast
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
