IN the new 007 film the CIA agent played by Halle Berry saves James Bond’s life and career and hardly breaks sweat. But to preserve her marriage, the Oscar-winning actress has revealed that she has recruited a “marital referee” to keep the peace between herself and Eric Benet, her pop-singer husband.

Berry, 34, daughter of an American soldier and a Liverpool nurse, has signed a deal that commits the spouses to long-term matrimonial counselling.

Her efforts to save her marriage — following the discovery that her husband was having affairs — come as she enjoys unprecedented professional success.

The actress, named after a Chicago department store, appears as Jinx, the Bond girl in Die Another Day, which has its royal premiere in London tomorrow. The film’s producers have also offered her a spin-off series in which she will reprise her role as the tough agent.

Berry’s decision to use a marital referee is part of a trend in Hollywood to use a psychologist or other trained professional to act as a “third force” for both spouses. They are becoming as fashionable as a personal trainer or a British nanny.

Earlier this year Reese Witherspoon, 27, admitted she and husband Ryan Phillippe, also an actor, had signed such an agreement on their wedding day in 1999.

Witherspoon, who has taken time off from her English literature studies at Stanford University to become the star of Pleasantville and Legally Blonde, said: “We agreed that sometimes we would need help and arranging this in the good times might help us prevent some bad times.”

Angelina Jolie, 27-year-old star of Tomb Raider, reportedly suggested such a contract before her troubled marriage to Billy Bob Thornton fell apart this year, but he rejected it as “intrusive and pointless”.

Berry told the American magazine Essence that her life was shattered last March, shortly after she became the first black woman to win best actress Oscar for Monster’s Ball, when she discovered her husband’s infidelity.

She confirmed she and Benet had signed up for open-ended psychotherapy that will carry on even when they have put their present difficulties behind them.

“I think a little prevention is worth a lot of cure,” said Berry. “I am proud Eric has joined me in doing the hard work to save our family.”

In Britain, according to Relate, troubled couples typically hold a dozen weekly sessions with a marriage guidance counsellor, but in America meetings are scheduled up to three times a week for a year. The counsellor is on call day and night.

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