CLEVELAND, Ohio — Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith once joked about his stoic coach, Tom Landry, and his “perfectionist” nature, “If he was married to Raquel Welch, he’d expect her to cook.”
It appears former baseball player David Justice might have taken that joke to heart.
Justice, who played 3½ seasons in Cleveland from 1997 to 2000, appeared last week on the podcast "All the Smoke" and discussed his former marriage with actress Halle Berry. Justice and Berry, a Cleveland native, were married from 1993 to 1997.
When talking about why the marriage failed, Justice offered some interesting reasons, according to People.
“My knowledge and my understanding, my wisdom around relationships just wasn’t vast,” Justice, 59, said. “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, [be] traditional, you know?
“Then I’m thinking, ‘OK, if we have kids, is this the woman I want to have kids with and build a family with?’” Justice said. “At that time, as a young guy — she don’t cook, don’t clean, don’t really seem like motherly, and then we start having issues.”
Berry’s career at the time was just starting to heat up. It wasn’t long after her divorce from Justice that she would land starring roles in several major films, including in 2001’s “Monster’s Ball,” for which she won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Justice believes he and Berry rushed into marriage too quickly, deciding to tie the knot after dating only five months, USA Today reports. He says the marriage was under strain because of their careers, causing them to spend a large amount of time apart.
He also says his own inexperience with serious relationships was an issue, USA Today reports.
“Honestly, we probably could have made it, if I knew about therapy,” Justice said. “It’s just that I, because I was young, had only been in honestly one real relationship before her. My knowledge and my understanding and my wisdom around relationships just wasn’t vast.”
Justice has been married to his current wife, Rebecca Justice, for 24 years. They have two children. Berry, 58, was married two more times, both ending in divorce, but currently is in a long-term relationship with singer-songwriter Van Hunt. She has two children.
Justice, an outfielder and first baseman, played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball, helping Cleveland reach the World Series in 1997. He played his first eight seasons with Atlanta and also played for the New York Yankees and Oakland A’s.
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