Halle Berry Reacts to Backlash After Her Third Divorce

Halle Berry opened up about the criticism she faced after her high-profile divorce to French actor Olivier Martinez a decade ago.

“After my third divorce, people started to say, ‘What’s wrong with her? She’s crazy. She can’t keep a man,’” Berry, 59, told The Cut. “And I would always argue, ‘Who says I want to keep a man if he’s not the right man?’”

The Oscar-winning actress has been married three times.

Berry’s first marriage to a baseball player, David Justice, 59, lasted four years from 1993 to 1997.

Four years later, in 2001, Berry walked down the aisle with singer-songwriter Eric Benét, 59. The couple divorced four years later, in 2005.

While married to Benét, Berry made history as the first Black woman to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress for her critically acclaimed role in Monster’s Ball opposite Billy Bob Thornton.

In 2008, Berry welcomed her first child, a daughter, Nahla Ariela, with her then-boyfriend, Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, 49. The couple never married, but dated from 2005 until 2010.

In 2013, Berry married for the third time—this time, to Martinez. The couple welcomed a son, Maceo-Robert, in 2013, before divorcing in 2016.

“I pretty much stopped doing interviews for a decade because I got tired of the same old story,” Berry said. “It was always: ‘Poor Halle—Unlucky in Love Again.’”

When the journalist, Monica Corcoran Harel, asked Berry to come up with an alternative headline, she offered three: “Halle Berry Is Not a Damsel in Distress; Halle Berry Is Not a Victim of Failed Relationships; Halle Berry Never Said It’s Anyone Else’s Fault.”

In her interview with The Cut, Berry recalled a story about Yvonne Sims, her elementary school teacher and the godmother to both of her children. Sims taught her an important lesson on accountability in fourth grade.

“She got me to understand early on that nothing happens to you; it happens with you. If you don’t accept responsibility for your part, you will make the same mistake again and again … until you do,” Berry said.

Now, Berry shared that she is in the “best relationship I have ever had” with musician Van Hunt, 55.

The couple met in 2020, but their journey began with a bump.

One morning, the actress woke up with vaginal pain that forced her to visit her OB-GYN. The doctor, Berry recalled, informed her that she had the “worst case of herpes” he’d ever seen.

“We were in the best relationship,” she said, referring to Hunt. “Finally, I got it right after three divorces and one baby daddy. I found my person. Then, this.”

Within days, both tested negative for herpes. Instead, Berry learned she was suffering from a common menopause symptom: vaginal atrophy caused by low estrogen.

Her journey inspired Berry to become an advocate for menopause and to relaunch her wellness website, Respin Health Clinic, to help other women navigate menopause.