'She Doesn’t Cook, Clean', David Justice reflects on why his marriage to Halle Berry fell apart

Appearing on the All The Smoke podcast, the 59-year-old ex-baseball player candidly discussed the four-year union that once captivated Hollywood, and why it simply wasn’t built to last.

According to Justice, despite the initial whirlwind romance, their vastly different values and expectations clashed behind closed doors.

Justice met Berry, now 58, in May of 1992, during the height of both of their careers. Just five months later, Berry popped the question, a bold move that caught him off guard.


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The couple married on New Year’s Day, 1993, in what many saw as a fairytale match. But according to Justice, beneath the glamour, tension was already brewing.

Looking back, he admitted that he wasn’t ready for the reality of being married, especially to someone whose life was so focused on fame and career advancement. His vision of marriage was rooted in more traditional values, a stark contrast to Berry’s ambitions in Hollywood.

“My knowledge and my understanding, my wisdom around relationships just wasn’t vast. So I am looking at my mom and I am a Midwest guy so, in my mind, I am thinking a wife at that time should cook, clean, [be] traditional, you know?” he explained.

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Justice went on to describe how those traditional expectations clashed with Berry’s lifestyle. The tension grew as he started contemplating the future of their relationship, especially when it came to starting a family.

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“Then I am thinking, ‘Okay, 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 does not cook, does not clean, does not really seem motherly, and then we started having issues.”

By early 1996, the cracks in their relationship had widened into an unbridgeable gap. Justice recalled reaching a breaking point.

“February 1996, I just told her I cannot do this no more. We did not have any kids. She did not have no money. I was the one who bought house in Los Angeles, in Atlanta. I was footing everything.”

Their separation became official on February 22, 1996. The divorce was finalised a little over a year later on June 20, 1997.

While their split was widely publicised at the time, Justice’s latest comments reveal just how incompatible their lifestyles had become.

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Now, decades later, Justice says he’s gained the clarity he lacked as a young husband, and has no ill will toward Berry. But their relationship, once heralded as picture-perfect, was far from it behind the scenes.