When I recently wrote about Olivier Martinez, I was startled to realize that he’s A) still living in LA and B) still maintaining a somewhat friendly relationship with his ex-wife Halle Berry. They split in 2016, although there was some talk about them reconciling. It looks like they simply did the work to co-parent successfully though. They have 6-year-old Maceo together, and Halle is also mom to Nahla, who is 12 years old now. Since her split from Olivier, Halle has been single in the sense that she’s never seen with any dude and there hasn’t been any boyfriend rollout or anything. Halle recently chatted with Lena Waithe for an IG Live session, and Halle spoke about the joy of being single for a while:
Halle Berry is loving the single life. The actress, 53, appeared on an Instagram Live session with her friend Lena Waithe in which Waithe, 35, asked the Oscar winner if she had decided to stay single since her divorce from French actor Olivier Martinez in 2016.
“I’ve learned a lot being with my children. They are the best company for me right now, and when I divorced Maceo’s dad I’ve been pretty alone by myself going on three years now,” Berry told Waithe. “Decidedly so, for sure. I have decided to take time. I’m very much a relationship-oriented person, I always want to be with someone. But I decided, no I’m going to slow my roll, I’m going to take a minute and I’m going to spent time with me. And it’s been so great that I think I might stay like this!”
When Waithe asked the John Wick: Chapter 3 actress if she knew she’d take a long period of time to be on her own, she said, “I knew I was going to take at least a year, one full year. One year led to two years and two years is now leading to three years,” she said with a laugh. “But I’m fine because I think the next relationship I have I think I will have a better chance of attracting and choosing what’s right for me because I’ve taken this time to think about what’s important to me. I no longer feel the need for a relationship so I don’t feel the need to rush or accept something that’s not totally right for me. Not that anything’s wrong with the people I’ve been with but I’m going to wait for my match or I will stay solo and be with my kids and do my life the way I’m doing it.”
Berry also had a piece of advice for Waithe and those who were watching.
“You know what I think the gift is, and this is something that comes with age, the gift of your own company,” Berry said. “And you can start it by maybe taking a short trip, a weekend trip and seeing how that feels. I promise you, you will start to enjoy that time and being with yourself and your company being the most important company.”
Speaking as someone who has always prioritized my alone-time, she’s right. Everybody’s different, obviously, and there are a lot of men and women who “need” to be in relationships, who need to always be in a constant state of “in love” or “looking for love.” That’s how some people are built. And I think for Halle specifically, it was a combination of things. Yes, she truly had a bad picker, but she also seemed to need to make every split as hyper-dramatic as possible. In some ways, she broke that cycle with Olivier. So I’m glad she broke the cycle of “needing to be in a relationship constantly” too.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Good for her! I seriously applaud people for taking a step back and thinking critically about their path forward when things arent working. I especially applaud people for doing this when children are involved.
Yes! It should always be celebrated when people recognize slightly or completely dysfunctional relationship patterns and begin to break them.
I’m happy for Halle and I hope to see her in John Wick 4 post-COVID19
It’s important to recognize when you aren’t good in relationships. Halle Berry is NOT good at relationships. Not at picking them. Not at being in them. Not at moving on.
If she was my friend, I would have long since stopped letting her talk to me about her relationships.
On her own and as a mom, she seems great. In relationships, she seems like a toxic fucked up mess.
Why would you stop her from talking to you about her relationships? What would that solve? Maybe she needs outside opinions and to talk things out to make sense. It can all get very messy and confusing inside our own minds. It’s not enabling depending on what you say and how you say it.
Because I’m good at boundaries and she’s bad at relationships. She needed a therapist, not to feel her way through her various issues by talking with friends and DEFINITELY not to be talking about her messed up relationships (and self harm ideation) in interviews as she’s done for 20+ years.
Kudos to her! I am child free in my 30s so I have spent a lot of time alone. It’s really amazing to love your own company because I have had a time in my life when I didn’t want to be alone with my own thoughts. I’m not missing my 20s lol
Good for you, Anda! I’m Marriageless, Childless and 49 next week! Some of my best memories are activities I did alone. I have been in several long-term relationships but I leave 2-3 years in between each one, and have a marvelous time.
Good for her: she seems so at home in and with herself. I completely agree about the desirability of the single life – being single (NOT alone, or lonely) is an absolute blessing! I’ve also been single for three years (after a very abusive relationship which destroyed my self-esteem, I dated a few chaps, but we just weren’t a good fit). After an initial feeling of desperation and self pity, I have learned to really enjoy my own company. I like sleeping and rising when I wish to, immerse myself in historical research and writing and a luscious pile of books, and not to have my actions critiqued, judged or disapproved of.
Let’s be frank, too: meeting someone whom you can stand for a long/indefinite period is pretty impossible during a pandemic.
On a less flippant note, another 847 poor souls died in the UK today; poor souls. So many prayers being said for them and their family.
She dated the dj for a few months last year so she hasn’t been alone
Good for her! So many people are afraid of being alone.
I love her fitness Friday Instagram series. It inspired me to eat and be a lot more consistent about fitness. Her trainer is good eye candy too.
YUP, ME You are Spot On!!!
This good friend of mine is very smart, hard-working and accomplished. Two years ago, she was able to leave an awful dude she’s been with for over seven years, and immediately jumped into a serious relationship with another guy. She seemed genuinely happy, the new guy seemed decent, everything appeared to be okay. At the end of last year she moved in with him and they’re obviously spending quarantine together. A couple days ago, she revealed that the only reason she won’t break up with him is because she doesn’t want to go through “yet another breakup”. She’s sick of the guy (and rightfully so, because he turned out to be a jerk), but is also terrified of being alone. Needless to say, she suffers from an incredibly low self esteem. Another friend and I used to try by all means to make her understand that she’s a great woman who deserves great things, but we’ve come to realize there’s nothing we can do about the way she sees herself.
I think that’s a wise decision for her – for so long she was on an emotional roller-coaster with her relationships. I was single for 10 years and didn’t miss being in a relationship at all but I’ve always liked having alone-time so it was no biggie. When Mr. Jaded came along everything just sort of fell into place – we’d had a relationship in the late seventies that didn’t work out but second time around it did – we’d both done a lot of growing up in the intervening 35 years. I hope the same thing happens to her now that she’s not actively seeking someone.
That’s lovely, @Jaded – I’m so happy for you.
I went into John Wick 3 not expecting much (but love Keanu). Halle was awesome! I feel like she should have been Lara Croft or something like it! She still could be.
I went into John Wick 3 not expecting much (but love Keanu). Halle was awesome! I feel like she should have been Lara Croft or something like it! She still could be.
I’ll bet when Olivier beat the crap out of Halle’s ex, Gabriel, and suddenly all the custody issues between Halle and Gabriel disappeared in a hurry because, presumably, if they didn’t play ball, Olivier was going to jail — I’ll bet there was some kind of therapy that Halle and Olivier were required to do at that point.
And it seems that therapy “took”, because yeah — no drama when Halle and Olivier split, no drama with custody, and Halle’s making more intentional choices in her personal life. The pattern broke.