Tuesday morning, David Justice went on a Twitter rant about his ex-wife Halle Berry. The crux of Justice’s angry tweets was to “clear the air” about the long-standing rumors that he had physically abused Halle during their marriage. Justice claims he never hurt her physically, that he was not the guy in Halle’s references to an “ex” who had stuck her on the side of her head. Of course, Justice also made some other references to Halle’s relationship M.O., as in whoever is her boyfriend is her savior, her knight in shining armor, and then when the breakup happens, Halle and her people go after the guy until he’s sorry he ever met Halle.
Justice later deleted most of his tweets, although the Twitter tirade did spark some renewed interest in his side of the story, which led to Justice speaking to the Daily Mail and then Access Hollywood. Here’s what he had to say to Access Hollywood later on Tuesday:
He’s not a spokesperson for Halle’s Maligned Exes. “I’m not trying to be the voice of Halle’s exes. What I was trying to do is let everybody understand that I am in the community coaching kids from baseball to basketball to football. I’m trying to be a role model and I don’t want these kids and my kids’ friends reading [reports] and then everyone looking at me like, ‘I didn’t know coach did that to some woman.’ I don’t want parents going, ‘I didn’t know my kid’s coach did that to some woman.'”
He doesn’t know Eric Benet. “I am not in contact with Halle or any of the boyfriends, nor am I trying to be. I’m not that dude.”
Seriously, he never hit Halle. “Not only have I never hit Halle, Halle has never verbally said that I hit her. What Halle said was that she had been in abusive relationships. Everyone at that time assumed it must have been me because I was the only guy at that point in time that everyone knew she had dated or married. Twenty years ago, I didn’t have any kids. Twenty years ago, I was just trying to get away from a bad situation. A lot of things were said about me that [weren’t] true, that [weren’t] a part of the relationship. Because we are in the social media era, something like this gets reported and if I don’t say anything, people will take that as it must have been true. I can’t have that. I have a 15-, 13-, 11-year-old and I’m in my community coaching, trying to be a good role model.”
He’s not looking for a reality show. “It’s not about me trying to get my name back in the media. I’m not trying to get a reality show. I just felt like I needed to say something. I don’t like the fact that when I’m brought up there has to be this stigma of this alleged abuse.”
While I think Justice’s initial Twitter rant was on-point, it also came across as sour grapes to some people. As in, Justice and Halle were both damaged people in their marriage and why is he trying to play it like she’s the only one with issues? But think of it this way – I’m sure every time Halle has some high-profile split or drama, journalists call David Justice and all of her exes for comment. Justice might be sick of having to still deal with those rumors, and to be fair to him – even though he’s explicitly denying it, I’m sure there are a lot of people who still believe he’s a physical abuser.
Justice also took to Twitter to thank Halle for “finally squashing all the rumors about their relationship.” But he cited this TMZ story which doesn’t really quote Halle, although it obviously comes from her people. TMZ wrote: “Halle Berry has no idea what sparked David Justice’s tirade … but it appears she never said or even insinuated he attacked her. Sources close to Halle tell TMZ the actress is upset that Justice put her on blast Tuesday… Our Halle sources say the actress is adamant … she never claimed Justice struck her during their relationship.”
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
I hate when celebrities are ballsy enough to put someone rightfully on blast, then back track. Just stick to your guns people!
Is that his wife? She looks like a porn star.
And what does a porn star look like? Looks like she was dressed up like every other celeb who walks the red carpet at an event.
See picture for porn star reference. Thanks.
@ MG – You’re welcome, but I don’t see a picture that shows she looks like a porn star.
She does look like a porn star.
Halle may never have come right out and accused David Justice of being abusive, but she knew it was widely reported in the press and NEVER made a single attempt to set the record straight. She’s vindictive.
Actually in that interview she gave Oprah a long while back, she was very clear the boyfriend was not her husband David Justice.
(She actually sounded like she was still in love with Justice in that interview)
Christopher Williams was also suspected, and he very publicly stated that people wrongly thought it was him and not W_S.
Its possible Berry did not clarify because through the process of elimination, people would have worked it out, and she would have had to show her hand, and confirm it was W_S.
Not saying it was right thing to do, but that was maybe her strategy rather than her being out to get David Justice. (Justice’s hands are not clean, he has a lot of **** in his own backyard during and after their marriage).
i came here to point out the Oprah interview but I’m glad you beat me to it. Halle is just the punching bag in fashion at the moment. So much so that nobody is doing their research on this thing. Halle didnt name the abuser (for obvious evidentiary related reasons) but only a person with a four year olds comprehension could watch that Oprah interview and conclude it was this guy. But its Halle Berry and if you cant pile on Halle Berry, who can you pile on?! And the blood birth continues…
I agree Halle is vindictive. She has spread her drama vindictive stench through relationships for decades.
Since the Hit and Run and going home saying she didn’t remember it until hours and hours later, I don’t believe much she says. I think Halle will always say whatever to get her way, even if it’s a lie.
Wow! If that is his wife I would say plastic surgery much?
Random pre coffee thoughts:
Everyone always assumed he was the one that beat her up and damaged her hearing since she began talking about that right after her divorce.
Cheating and being a dog isn’t the same as beating people up.
She is absolutely not being slut shamed because people are noticing how she publicly evicerates every man in her life.
That being said I’m sure he regrets his Twitter rant. It just brings up things that happened way too long ago.
I always heard it was W.S. who did it, but with Halle’s stories who knows it could be someone else?
I’m glad Dave cleared the air and got his side out. He said he wanted out of a terrible situation.
You know, for umpteen years I have been thinking that he hit her, so yes, I am glad that I can be a fan of his again with no guilt feelings. This was only topped recently when someone in the music biz told me there was no f’n way that Jackson Browne hit Daryl Hannah, and I can listen to his music again…
Meanwhile – i’ve already seen him on a reality show – was flipping around and stopped on that show where celebrities swap wives. Dweezil Zappa was the other celeb. Sort of amusing but I couldn’t stick with it, even for the Dweez.
What about the other ex, Nicole, who did say he hit her?
That was never proved and the lawsuit was thrown out of court.
@swack
So? Men get away with abusing women all the time. My sister’s ex husband threw her down the stairs and the police did nothing about it. But according to you since he never served time, it must not have happened.
Merritt – just because one man abuses his wife and gets away with it, doesn’t mean that every man found not guilty of beating their wife/so means they actually did and just got away with it. I’m sorry for what your sister went through, but you can’t just lump men into one category.
@Dani
No, but the constant refrain of “he was never charged, or it was dismissed” as proof of something not happening is dangerous. It is not just one man getting away with it. It is countless men getting away with abuse. It is why so many women are murdered by former boyfriends or husbands.
I would also appreciate if you would not apologize about what happened to my sister, and then launch into some defense of abusive men.
Merritt – I’m not launching to the defense of abusive men, I’m defending innocent men in general who get attacked because a woman said so, and since a woman said so then it must be true. He could very well be innocent and people chose not to believe because it’s a game of he said she said, which happens with a lot of couples.
I truly feel for your sister. I personally know women who have been in abusive relationships and it’s nothing I would ever laugh at or minimize.
@Dani
It is rare for a woman to lie about abuse. It is rather common for men to deny they abused someone that they in fact did abuse.
So basically you want to defend an extreme minority. But the reality is that in doing so, you are helping contribute to the myth that all women lie about being abused.
@ Merrit?
So we can not actually say that some women do lie and that their lies do have the consequence of casting doubt on the issue of domestic violence/rape therefore we must believe every accusation regardless of what information casts doubt?
Isn’t that pretty much what destroyed Rolling Stone last year? They believed a woman claiming to be a rape victim but did not vet or seek proof/commentary for her claims and in the end there wasn’t a shred of evidence to vindicate her? So in the end individuals were falsely accused of rape, the magazine is now culpable for several lawsuits and their credibility has been tarnished.
Furthermore is that not what Lena Dunham did by sprinkling clues about her rapist that pointed to one man in particular and then later claiming she didn’t think anyone would look into it and that it was not actually him?
We should believe and support women but we also can not take a mere accusation as proof of a crime without some degree of evidence to support it.
What about Halle saying he actually didn’t hit her? Aren’t the odds in his favour that perhaps he might be telling the truth about the ex wife too at this point?
About the Jackson Browne incident seems like something did happen. She did in fact have injuries . Jackson seems to imply it was self inflicted and Darryl along with some relatives claim he beat her up. So I think there is an f’n way that it did happen sadly.
Years later in an interview JFK Jr. was asked about whether he thought Jackson hit Darryl and he said no, among other things. The police themselves concluded there had been no assault. I’m not saying third parties or the authorities never get things wrong, but in this case I can’t help but believe them.
@byland
The police doing nothing about domestic violence is not proof. Especially for those us who know someone who nearly died due to police inaction.
There was a statement made on the incident by a Lt in the Santa Monica Police Department in Nov 1992 that they responded to Jackson Browne’s call and found that there was no assault and that no charges would be laid or prosecution sought. No allegations of assault were made by anyone, including Hannah. One of the statements: “The press is trying to make more out of this than there really is, and it’s unfair, not just to Browne, but to us. We did our job, and repeat, no crime occurred here. This whole thing is ridiculous.”
I don’t know if Hannah inflicted wounds on herself in order to get the sympathy of JFK or her family but I don’t believe she was assaulted by Browne. Even JFK made some interesting comments about the apparent assault years later.
Hannah/Browne is an interesting comparison to the Berry/Justice or Berry/Williams or Berry/Snipes in that the apparent victim didn’t name anyone but rather kept silent and in that silence did damage to people’s reputations.
@ Merritt
Oh, no, I completely understand where you’re coming from with that. It’s just that in the case of Browne and Hannah the facts simply don’t add up to what the media and now, urban legend, have made things out to be. Their familes where friends and after the allegations they were never able to patch things up again.
@KAI
I tried to find that statement and a few others, but all I could find where some secondhand statements from the responding officers and quotes from an interview JFK Jr. did in the late nineties. And you’re right – it is an interesting comparison. Neither women confirmed who hurt them, but instead allowed the media (and in Hannah’s case, family members) to point fingers for them. To this day my mother – a victim of dometic violence herself – makes comments about Browne being a “wife beater” everytime his music comes on. Reported (through the media) – but never charged, procescuted, convicted, or even investigated – allegations of abuse continue to damage the reputations the alleged perpertrators for quite some time.
Then you have cases like Chris Brown or Charlie Sheen where it’s quite clear what happened, but they skate by anyway. It’s a crazy, terrible, mixed up world we live in, isn’t it?
He didn’t really back track. He still says he NEVER hit her. I totally believe him.
It’s good he got his side out finally. It sounds like he was in a hellish situation with Hallle.
Halle may be more beautiful on the outside than his wife now, but IMO Halle is a ugly woman on the inside, can’t stand her.
She loves drama,vindictive stench.
I always heard it was W.S. Who hit her in the ear , not Dave anyway.
I’ll never forget when Halle did one of the Oscars as a presenter one year after the news of her constant fights with Gabriel and later the bust up street brawl, when she walked out on stage it was not to great applause but more polite applause and then quiet.
Doesn’t W.S have a rep as a woman beater? Halle wasn’t the only one and i seem to recall there were others, lesser known actresses who’ve said the same.
If someone makes the claim you abused them and it’s not true then no; it will never be sour grapes to claim otherwise.
We have very disturbed ideas about our justice system and who’s right and who’s guilty. There are some accusations that you can’t really just swallow and accept with a shrug.
Abuse, rape, or racism are some deeply serious charges to accuse someone of and they can really completely devastate someone’s life.
He just clarified a situation .
… wow. It didn’t even take 24 hours for him to do exactly what he said he wouldn’t. This is what he told the DM yesterday:
“So, now I have said all that I am going to say on the subject. I am not the face of Halle Berry’s exes, I won’t be going on TV to talk about this. I just wanted to make sure my wife, my children and the rest of my family, friends and fans know the truth.”
If he really did that interview first, it seems he told them he wouldn’t be going on TV… then went straight to an Access Hollywood interview. Not surprised.
I know, I thought the same thing. I thought he was firm about saying his piece and being done, lol. Although I can see why he’d maybe regret saying anything at all and now can’t seem to end it gracefully.
I know! Lol…I’m guessing he didn’t think it would gain as much traction as it did. These celebs need to think twice before they get on social media.