Benet: Halle's stardom didn't destroy marriage

R&B singer Eric Benet says Halle Berry’s stardom is not the reason his marriage to the Oscar-winning actress fell apart.

In an interview for ABC’s Primetime Thursday TV show, Benet also denied suggestions of having a sex addiction.

“I am not a sex addict,” he said in New York. “I am a person who … through a series of emotional events, troubles, challenges, made some really, really stupid, painful mistakes.”

From almost the day the X-Men star married Benet in January 2001, tabloids had speculated about his faithfulness.

Benet claims he never committed adultery, but does admit to indiscretions that entailed “verbally inappropriate” behaviour and “physical contact that was extremely inappropriate and wrong in a marriage”.

The 33-year-old singer also said being referred to as “Mr Halle Berry” was difficult.

“I would be dishonest if I told you that wasn’t an ego blow.” However, he adds: “that was not the reason why our marriage fell apart.”

Benet has a young daughter, India, from a previous relationship.

In an interview on the syndicated entertainment TV show Access Hollywood, Berry, who filed for divorce from Benet in April, said she was determined to be a mother one day.

“I’ll adopt ... I’ll get artificially inseminated,” the 35-year-old actress said. “I’ll do whatever I will have to do. I really don’t want to miss motherhood in my life, and I know I love children.”