Halle Berry has spent years watching her romantic life dissected in headlines: who she’s dating, who she’s divorcing, and whether she’ll ever walk down the aisle again. She’s been married and divorced multiple times, had serious relationships without a ring, and is now in a long-term romance she’s deliberately taking slow. Underneath the gossip, though, is a story of a woman who keeps choosing herself, even when it costs her.
Before the Rings: Early Love and Lasting Pain
Long before the Oscars and superhero costumes, Halle was just a young actress dating Chicago dentist John Ronan from 1989 to 1991. After they split, he sued her for $80,000, claiming the money he’d given her were “loans” that helped launch her career. A court disagreed, but the case showed how messy a supposedly ordinary relationship could become. Around that same era, she suffered horrific abuse from an unnamed famous boyfriend, losing 80% of the hearing in her left ear — trauma that would shadow everything that came after.
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David Justice: A New Year’s Wedding, a Sudden Crash
Berry’s first marriage sounds like something out of a movie. She spotted baseball star David Justice on TV in 1992, learned he was also a fan, and passed him her number through a reporter. Sparks flew, and just after midnight on January 1, 1993, they got married — literally starting the new year as newlyweds. But the glow faded fast. They separated in 1996, finalized their divorce in 1997, and Berry later described falling into a deep depression, while Justice took public swipes at her, claiming she lacked “mothering” energy.
Eric Benét: Red Carpets, Romance… and “Sex Addiction”
Next came singer-songwriter Eric Benét. The two began dating in the late ’90s and married on January 24, 2001, quickly becoming a glamorous red-carpet duo. For a while, it looked like the real deal: soulful musician, A-list actress, all smiles at award shows. Then, in 2002, Benét entered counseling for so-called “sex addiction,” a label often thrown around when cheating blows up a relationship. Whatever the diagnosis, trust was broken. By 2003 they were separated, and their divorce was finalized in January 2005 — another very public heartbreak for Halle.
Gabriel Aubry: No Marriage, All the Drama
After that, Berry’s next great love didn’t involve a wedding at all. She started dating French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry in 2005, and in March 2008 they welcomed their daughter, Nahla. They never married, but looked like the chicest little family in Hollywood — until they quietly split in 2010. What followed was a long, bitter custody war stretching into 2012, focused less on who was a fit parent and more on where and how they’d raise their daughter. There was even a brutal physical fight between Aubry and Berry’s new partner that ended in hospital trips and restraining orders. Eventually, they reached a custody deal, with Halle ordered to pay Aubry monthly child support.
Olivier Martinez: French Fairytale, Messy Aftermath
Berry’s second walk down the aisle was with French actor Olivier Martinez. She confirmed their engagement in 2012, married him in France in July 2013, and welcomed their son, Maceo, that October. From the outside, it looked like a romantic reset: new husband, new baby, fresh start. But trouble was already simmering; that infamous fight between Aubry and Martinez happened during their engagement, leaving both men injured and bound by mutual restraining orders. By 2015, Berry and Martinez announced their divorce. The split was legally finalized in 2016, but issues around custody and child support weren’t fully settled until August 2023 — proof that even short marriages can leave very long shadows.
Van Hunt: Love Without the Wedding Deadline
Today, the relationship most people associate with Halle Berry doesn’t involve a divorce at all. In 2020, she began dating musician Van Hunt, and their romance has unfolded mostly online — goofy selfies, steamy posts, and glimpses of two people who genuinely enjoy each other’s company. She’s been open about how happy he makes her, and how different this chapter feels from the whirlwind relationships of her past. Hunt has proposed, but Berry has admitted they’re not quite ready for that step. After everything she’s survived, she’s in no rush to slap on another ring or head back into a courtroom. For now, they’re savoring the relationship as it is. (
From Survival to Self-Possession
It’s easy to flatten Halle Berry’s love life into a joke about “too many divorces,” but that completely misses the point. This is a woman who’s endured abuse, public blame, lawsuits, custody battles, and exes who used the press as a weapon — and still hasn’t closed her heart. Instead, she’s changed the way she loves: more boundaries, less fantasy; fewer rushed commitments, more focus on peace and stability. Her story isn’t about failing at love. It’s about refusing to stay where she isn’t protected or respected, even when the whole world is watching.
And if her current chapter with Van Hunt is anything to go by, Halle Berry has finally given herself permission to want something quieter and healthier than a headline-grabbing fairytale: a relationship that doesn’t need a ceremony to prove it’s real, and a life where her happily-ever-after starts with her own peace of mind.
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