It’s been nearly ten years since Eric Benét and ex-wife, Halle Berry split. However, unsurpisingly, such a high-profile relationship is difficult for the public to forget. Their divorce was plagued with rumors of cheating and conflicting reports that pegged Benét as a sex addict. The “Sometimes I Cry” singer has since moved on and found love in Prince’s ex-wife, Manuela Testolini, but he admits that the Halle chapter is still very much a part of his story.
“You’re never able to take the players out of the story, but in anybody’s life, there are personal hurdles that’ll make you wonder ‘How did I get here?’” he told theGrio about his split from Berry. “But on the other side of that, if you stay positive, if you keep moving, if you stay still and try to observe, absorb and learn as much as you’re supposed to learn in that pain, there’s a whole lot of evolution and light on the other side.”
While the divorce was clearly a challenging time in his life, the 47-year-old father says the experience taught him a lot.
“One of the great things about that time was learning to shut out the noise … Realizing what’s important to me is my family, my daughter and my career. It was a way to learn how to shut everything and it doesn’t really matter what you think and I know what the truth is. I’ll keep moving forward, ” he added.
As for whether or not he still speaks to his Academy Award-winning ex-wife, Benét says:
“No we haven’t stayed in touch. I just keep moving forward and being happy.”
And speaking of difficult times, he also opened up about losing his daughter’s mother in 1993 following a tragic car accident.
“My daughter, India, for most of her life I was a single father,” he explained. “Her mother passed away in a car accident when she was 15 months old. As you can imagine, there’s really no way to describe how [that feels]. There was so much loss and fear and trepidation about the future. Am I going to be able to do this. I mean, I had this amazing partner to parent this beautiful person with me. At the end of the day, I had my family, I had God and I had this amazing little baby.”
Thankfully, Benét says life is certainly looking up these days.
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