By M10News Entertainment Desk | 15 August 2025
Halle Berry has reacted to remarks made by her ex-husband, David Justice, about the end of their marriage, after he said he left her in 1996 because “she doesn’t cook, doesn’t clean, doesn’t seem motherly.”
The Academy Award-winning actress appeared to poke fun at the retired MLB star in an Instagram post on Thursday, sharing a series of snapshots showing her laughing and vacationing with her boyfriend, Van Hunt.
“Phew…! cooking, cleaning and mothering,” Berry, who turned 59 on Thursday, wrote alongside the post.
Other images from the post showed Berry laughing and lounging on an outdoor bed in the middle of the ocean, holding a wine glass between her toes.
One snapshot featured the actress holding a card marked “Mom” with hearts on it.
Berry is a mother to daughter Nahla, 17, from her relationship with ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry, and son Maceo, 11, with former husband Oliver Martinez, whom she was married to from 2013 to 2016.
The Instagram caption appeared to reference Justice’s comments during an August 7 appearance on former NBA star Matt Barnes’ “All the Smoke” podcast, where he spoke about his four-year marriage to Berry before their divorce was finalised in 1997.
“There really wasn’t a lot of negative attention until I decided to leave her in 1996,” Justice said. “… She asked me to marry her after knowing me for five months. I said, ‘OK’ because I couldn’t say no … but I don’t know if my heart was really into it.”
Justice added: “… My knowledge and wisdom around relationships wasn’t vast. 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 — and then I’m thinking, ‘OK if we have kids, is this the woman I want to have kids with or a family with?’
“And at that time, as a young guy, she don’t cook, don’t clean, don’t really seem motherly, and then we start having issues.”
He also said he was “footing everything” financially at the time because Berry “didn’t have any money.”
Berry and Hunt made their relationship public in 2020.
Hunt, 55, recently told media: “So I put out the proposal, and it’s still on hold as you can see. It’s just out there floating. You know, maybe you can encourage her.”
Berry explained the couple had no immediate plans to marry. “Well, I’ve been married three times. Van has been married once, and so, no, we don’t feel like we have to get married to validate our love in any way. We don’t,” she said.
She added: “But 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. And I feel like we should get married, but it’s not because we feel like we have to. I think it’s something we would like to do just because we want that expression.”
Berry was previously married to musician Eric Benét from 2001 to 2005.
