Not that married life has been all fun and games. During the past year, Berry and Benét have had to repeatedly confront talk of trouble. Although Benét previously has admitted to "mistakes," Berry says the union is solid: "He has brought me a lot of joy." Still, she acknowledges, "all marriages are challenging. We're grateful that we're dealing with some heavy issues early, and hopefully we'll get them behind us and move on." Adds Benét, who got to know Berry after one of his concerts in 1997 and wed her in a beachside ceremony in Santa Barbara, Calif., before just two friends: "I'm a much better person because of her love."
Berry also praises the benefits of counseling. "I've been in therapy my whole life," she says. "Eric could well have said, 'You know what? This is too much work.' But I have a partner who is willing to do the hard work. Going to therapy and working out our problems is a must." Another marital imperative: a regular "date night." "It can be at a restaurant, it can be in the bathtub, it can be by the pool, in the Jacuzzi," Berry says. "Usually there's a bottle of wine involved. It's just about connecting."
Connecting has been an ongoing theme in Berry's relationships, going back to her difficult childhood in and around Cleveland. The younger daughter of Judith, 63, a retired nurse who is white, and Jerome, an African-American hospital attendant who died in January, Berry and her sister Heidi were called "zebra" and "Oreo" by neighborhood kids. But the actress credits her mom – who raised the girls solo after Jerome left the family when Halle was 4 – with instilling an inner strength. "She never wanted me to focus on my physical self," recalls Berry, who remains very close to her mother. "My mom always said, 'Beauty is what you do.' "
One thing she wasn't able to do was reconcile with her father – who she says abused her mother – before his death. (He had been suffering from Parkinson's disease.) Long estranged from him, she spent years blaming her father's abuse and absence for her own problems with men. But his passing, she says, has brought her unexpected comfort. "I feel like now I can really talk to him in a strange kind of way," she says. "I think I'm a lot closer to him now than I ever was when he was alive."
This is an excerpt from our special cover package. For the complete story, and more of the 50 Most Beautiful, please pick up the May 12, 2003, issue of PEOPLE.
– MICHELLE TAUBER
– JULIE JORDAN in Montreal and
DAVID J. SEARLS in Bedford, Ohio
JOSH & FERGIE: ROCKED BY SCANDAL
Did he cheat with a stripper?
Married less than a year, the couple denies an Atlanta woman’s claims that she and Josh had a fling
Note that this week’s cover of PEOPLE may differ regionally
