Halle Berry says she does not believe the claim that her ex-husband Eric Benét was a sex addict when he cheated on her in their marriage multiple times.
During a discussion about addiction, her movie roles and other topics with podcast hosts Dax Shepard and Monica Padman on their “Armchair Expert” podcast, the 58-year-old actress threw slight shade at the R&B singer.
Shepard asked Berry, who has played a “crack hoe” in multiple movie roles, if she was attracted to addicts.
Without missing a beat, the actress responded, “Well I had one husband who said he was a sex addict but I don’t f-cking believe that sh-t. That’s some bullsh-t.”
Halle Berry laughs at ex-husband, Eric Benet’s sex addiction claim:
— Glock Topickz (@Glock_Topickz) October 8, 2024
“I had one husband that claimed he was a sex addict but I don’t f**kin believe that sh*t. That’s some bulllsh*t”
(Via: Armchair Expert w/ Dax Shepherd) pic.twitter.com/WkMRrlKdrh
Benét Claims He Was Never a Sex Addict
After two years of dating, Berry and Benét married in 2001, and the “Spend My Life With You” singer has confessed to being unfaithful during their relationship. But history shows that Benét has repeatedly denied being a sex addict.
In a 2004 interview with ABC News, he said, “I am not a sex addict. I am a person who … through a series of emotional events, troubles, challenges, made some really, really stupid, painful mistakes.”
The “Georgy Porgy” singer also claimed that he did not have sexual intercourse with the women he cheated on Berry with. He has admitted to exchanging “verbally inappropriate” messages and “physical contact that was extremely inappropriate and wrong in a marriage,” but denies the physical contact was intercourse.
In a 2008 interview with Sister 2 Sister, Benét denied the notion again. “For me the sexual addiction thing was, I really don’t feel like I’m any more of a sex addict than any other man. I went to this therapy as a certain condition of moving forward in the marriage,” he said.
He further clarified that going to therapy, “was a condition for us to move forward in the marriage,” noting that it was a “group therapy type of thing.”
Benet claimed he often heard “deep stories” about “these married men who could not stop going to prostitutes or gay men who would check into bathhouses and have anonymous sex.”
“I think there is such a thing as sexual addiction,” he stated, “Then I think there’s such a thing as going through some stuff in your life either in your relationships where you make some bad choices.”
Fast-forward four years later, the father of two did an interview with “This Is 50,” where he said, “That’s not me and that was never me.”
The interviewer Jack Thriller called the rumor “bullsh-t” and said “we setting the record straight right now,” to which Benét replied, “I tried to set it a couple times before but y’all won’t listen.”
Benét added that therapy was not something he wanted to do, suggesting he was given an ultimatum, “You do this or it’s a wrap!”
So Why Did Benét Attend Therapy If He Wasn’t a Sex Addict?
The thought came from Berry’s mother, Judith Ann (née Hawkins), which the “Losing Isaiah” star revealed in 2004 on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” while explaining how she found out about Benét’s cheating scandals.
Ten days after becoming the first (and still only) Black woman to win Best Actress at the 2002 Academy Awards, a tabloid came out claiming Benét had cheated on the Future “Catwoman” star “with a woman from his past.”
Berry initially didn’t believe the stories about her husband’s reported affair.
“I didn’t even ask him if it were true. I said I’m going to sue this magazine, I have had it,” she said. “And about a week later he finally saw that I was in sue mode and he said I need to tell you something. That article is true. And it’s heartbreaking because I had a perfect marriage.”
Despite Benét coming clean about this one woman, days later he would reveal to Berry that there were several more women during the time she was filming “Die Another Day” in London. She said she thought she could “fix it,” wanting to stay in her marriage for the long haul.
“The next two weeks of my life he stayed there and this vomiting happened and I found out there was woman after woman after woman after woman after woman. And then I realized he had a sickness.”
The confession led to Berry having an “emotional breakdown.”
“I had an emotional breakdown. That window, my bay window looked real good. I thought I was gonna go right through it,” the Marvel actor stated. “I had a little breakdown, took a couple of days off from work. My mother flew out there and she was the first one to say, ‘Have you guys heard of sex addiction?’”
Upon bringing up that topic, Berry’s mother suggested a solution to the couple due to Benét being dishonest and having affairs with other women allegedly since the “day he met her.”
“My mother said, ‘He needs to go to rehab and I think through rehab, because he has the willingness to work it out. You guys can heal from this, and I believe that.’”
Berry even claimed she put on a face when accepting her 2002 Oscar Award for Best Actress in “Monster’s Ball.”
22 years ago, halle berry became first black woman to win the oscar for 'best actress', to this day she remains the only black woman to have won in said category 😵💫 pic.twitter.com/E82W0Y5By3
— popculture (@notgwendalupe) March 10, 2024
That same year, Benét went to rehab for said addiction, but the four-time Grammy-nominated artist still couldn’t save the marriage. By 2003, Berry announced a statement confirming their split, and in 2005 they were divorced.
