Halle Berry Says Time Alone Helped Her Find Love With Van Hunt

Halle Berry is opening up about how stepping away from dating helped her rediscover herself—and eventually led her to a healthy, fulfilling relationship.

In a recent interview with The Times Magazine, the Oscar-winning actress said she spent four years celibate and focused entirely on herself before meeting her current boyfriend, musician Van Hunt.

“I was solo and celibate for four years,” Berry said. “I had to really sit myself down and be alone and grow and reflect and realize my value.” During that time, she decided she would be okay staying single if the right partner never came along. “I’m enough by myself,” she explained, pointing to her children and career as more than fulfilling.

Berry, who stars in the upcoming film Crime 101, said any future relationship would have to truly add value to her life. “The icing had better be exactly what I want,” she said. “Because it’s too costly.”

The actress’s decision to pause her dating life followed her 2016 divorce from actor Olivier Martinez, with whom she shares her 12-year-old son, Maceo. It was her third divorce. Berry also has a 17-year-old daughter, Nahla, with former partner Gabriel Aubry.

Berry eventually met Hunt in 2020 and says she wouldn’t have been ready for him earlier in her life. “I had to go through fire and burn to get to the point of appreciating a person like him,” she said, adding that she no longer falls into intense but unhealthy relationship patterns.

She has spoken before about this period of self-reflection, calling it a “sabbatical to understand me” in a 2024 interview with Marie Claire. Berry said she had always been intentional about her career but not her relationships. “You have to be clear with the universe,” she said. “Or any old thing will find you.”

According to Berry, once she truly understood herself and her past mistakes, Hunt entered her life. “I have a real belief that this is it,” she said. “This is my person.”

In June 2025, Hunt revealed that he had proposed to Berry, though the engagement is currently on hold. Marriage, however, is not a priority for the couple. Speaking on the Today show, Berry explained that after multiple marriages, neither of them feels the need to wed to prove their love.

Still, she hasn’t ruled it out completely. “Out of the people I’ve been married to, this is the person I should have married,” she said. “If we do get married, it will be because we want to—not because we feel we have to.”

Crime 101 hits theaters on Feb. 13.