Former American baseball star David Justice has opened up about the real reason behind his split from Hollywood actress Halle Berry — and it had nothing to do with the rumours that swirled at the time.

Speaking on the All the Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes, Justice said he ended the marriage because Berry didn’t do household chores and didn’t seem to have the motherly instincts he was looking for in a life partner.

“I’m a Midwest guy, and growing up, my mom cooked, cleaned, and took care of the family,” Justice explained. “At the time, I thought a wife should do the same. I was thinking ahead — if we have kids, is this the woman I want to raise them with? And at that time, she didn’t cook, didn’t clean, and didn’t seem motherly to me.”

Justice admitted that being young and inexperienced in relationships played a part in the breakup. He said he now realises therapy might have saved the marriage, but back then, he didn’t know it was an option.

The former MLB player also claimed Berry wrongly allowed the public to think he was the problem in their failed relationship, insisting, “I wasn’t the bad guy — she was dead wrong.”

Justice and Berry married on January 1, 1993, but divorced in June 1997. Justice has since been married to Rebecca Justice for 24 years, with whom he shares two children.

Halle Berry, now in a long-term relationship with musician Van Hunt, was later married to Eric Benét (2001–2005) and Olivier Martinez (2013–2016). She has two children: Nahla, 17, with ex-partner Gabriel Aubry, and Maceo, 11, with Martinez.