During a recent interview with Time Magazine, Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry revealed that she intentionally abstained from sex and dating for four years before she eventually became romantically involved with her boyfriend Van Hunt.
“I was solo and celibate for four years,” Berry, 59, said, per PEOPLE. “I had to really sit myself down and be alone and grow and reflect and realize my value. I had decided if the right person doesn’t come, I will be alone. And that’s okay. I’m enough by myself. I’ve got my children. I have my career. That’s more than enough. I have an embarrassment of riches.”
The Monster’s Ball actress was also asked if a relationship would have been a bonus, to which she replied in the affirmative.
“Yes. And the icing had better be exactly what I want or I’m not going to eat that cake. Because it’s too costly,” Berry answered.
Berry decided to be celibate after her 2016 divorce from her ex-husband, Olivier Martinez. The mother of two, who is a three-time divorcee, ultimately became romantically involved with Hunt, 55, in 2020.
“I would not have been ready for him before. I had to go through fire and burn to get to the point of appreciating a person like him. I was a moth to a flame. I no longer am that person,” she said.
In a previous interview with Marie Claire, Berry said that she decided to pause dating before meeting Hunt. She said she took a “sabbatical to understand me” during that time.
“I created my career. I was intentional about that. I knew what I was going to do, and I did it,” she said at the time. “But I had never been that intentional with my relationships. I was loosey goosey with that. You have to be clear with the universe [or] any old thing will find you.”
She also said that Hunt entered her life the “minute I started to feel like I understood myself and what I had been doing wrong.”
“It took me a minute to get it right, but the nature of the way this happened, I have a real belief that this is it. This is my person,” Berry said about her relationships.
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