Halle Berry had a witty response for ex-husband David Justice after he claimed she wasn’t nurturing during their marriage.
Last week, the former MLB player appeared on Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All the Smoke podcast, where he reflected on his relationship with Berry.
The pair were married from 1993 to 1997, divorcing not long after allegations emerged that Justice had abused the Oscar-winning actress. In 1996, Berry told People she suffered hearing loss from domestic violence, though she never named her abuser.
While again denying he ever assaulted her, Justice said around the 30-minute mark of the interview that Berry wasn’t “motherly” during their marriage.
“I was young and had only been in honestly one real relationship before her,” Justice said. “My understanding, my wisdom around relationships just 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 be] traditional.”
“And then I’m thinking, OK, if we have kids, is this the woman I want to have kids with and build a family with?” he continued. “And at that time, as a young guy, she don’t cook, don’t clean, don’t really seem like [she’s] motherly.”
The clip quickly went viral, sparking backlash against Justice for his seemingly sexist comments and what some saw as jealousy over Berry being at the height of her career at the time.
Berry jumped into the conversation on Thursday (Aug. 14), posting vacation photos of herself sunbathing alongside her boyfriend, musician Van Hunt.
“Phew…! cooking, cleaning and mothering,” the mom of two captioned the post on X, formerly Twitter.
As fans praised Berry for her sly response to Justice, she doubled down with a follow-up post — a meme of Tiffany “New York” Pollard dismissing a contestant on the classic dating show Flavor of Love.
Berry, who has been divorced three times, has been dating Hunt since 2020 and is in no rush to accept his marriage proposal after previous heartbreaks.
In June, during an appearance on TODAY With Jenna and Friends, she called Hunt the man she “should have married.”
“And I feel like I should, we should get married, but it’s not because we feel like we have to,” Berry explained. “I think it’s something that we would like to do just because we want that expression.”
