Halle Berry Secretly Wed

ByABC News
February 8, 2001, 2:23 PM

February 7 -- Halle Berry surprised the audience last night at the launch of her official "Hallewood" Web site by introducing fiancé Eric Benét as her husband, ABCNEWS.com reports.

Berry said, "Who better to perform than my husband," as she introduced Benét, a jazz musician, at the Burbank, Calif., event.

Although news of the wedding had been rumored throughout the day, the casual reference to her "husband" left the audience agape. Berry's rep, Vincent Spade, confirmed today to Mr. Showbiz that the nuptials took place two weeks ago. The pair did not disclose where the ceremony took place, only that it was somewhere "exotic," according to Spade.

Berry's engagement to Benét was also a closely kept secret: The musician popped the question in August 1999, but Berry didn't let it slip until December of that year.

The actress, who played superhero Storm in last year's X-Men, had a good reason to escape the public eye. She is still smarting from media coverage of her hit-and-run accident last year, for which she was fined $13,500 and placed on three years of probation.

Berry, 34, also took the end of her first marriage to Yankees slugger David Justice hard. Their four-year marriage ended in 1997 with a bitter divorce, in which both sides sued for financial support.

Berry at one point sought a restraining order, claiming that Justice came to her home and threatened her, a charge her ex-husband denied.

The actress told an interviewer last summer that she was so crushed when her marriage failed that she tried to kill herself and her two dogs.

The Cleveland-born Berry won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and other awards for her portrayal of the title character in the HBO TV movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, which she also produced.

Milwaukee-born Benét has received rave reviews for his recordings True to Myself and A Day in the Life.

ABCNEWS.com and NewsOne's Rod Jackson in Los Angeles contributed to this report.