14 DAY TRIAL // Halle Berry is still at odds with ex-boyfriend model Gabriel Aubry over their daughter Nahla, whose custody they share. The two broke up in 2010 in what was one of the most bitter celebrity splits of the year, and they still are unable to find some common ground, especially because they have their daughter’s best interest to think about.
The other day, the actress brought Aubry back in court, over claims that he was straightening and highlighting Nahla’s hair to make her appear “white” and got a judge to rule that neither parent is allowed to change a thing about her appearance without the other’s consent.
Halle believes Aubry is trying to make Nahla appear white
Halle has moved on from the failed romance to Aubry, marrying Olivier Martinez in 2013. They also have a child together, Maceo, born that same year, but this new stage in her life hasn’t changed the way she feels about her ex.
According to TMZ, she had her attorney Steve Kolodny in court, saying that she was convinced Aubry was taking huge and highly inappropriate steps to make Nahla appear less African American than she is and more white, which included straightening her naturally curly hair and highlighting it several times.
Word online has it that she believes Aubry is “ashamed” in some way that his daughter is part African American and wants her to be white like him.
In 2011, after the nasty split from Aubry and during the bitter custody battle, Berry was telling Ebony magazine that she thought of her daughter as black, because she believed in the “one-drop theory.” “I feel like she's black. I'm black and I'm her mother,” she said.
Clearly, the Oscar-winning actress has very strong feelings on the topic.
Berry vs. Aubry, a never-ending battle
As noted above, the split between these two was one of the most bitter that year, but it’s also one of the nastiest breakups in showbiz, ever.
Halle and Gabriel had been together for 5 years, and for a very long time, they also showed signs of wanting to walk down the aisle, despite Berry’s disastrous marriage history. The fact that they never did was what made the split nastier and the custody battle more difficult.
Halle wanted to take Nahla and move to France, which would have allowed her to spend more time with her new boyfriend, Martinez, and to escape the paparazzi. She wanted to shut Aubry out of Nahla’s life completely, but he fought back. In the end, he succeeded in preventing Halle from taking Nahla to France and out of his life, getting joint custody.
In 2012, Martinez beat Aubry to a pulp in front of Berry’s house, on Thanksgiving, presumably after getting into a fight over Nahla. Aubry has claimed recently that the injuries he sustained to the face then have made it very difficult for him to continue working as a model, but the actress fought back, asking a judge to cut down even more the spousal support she’s paying him.
This new dispute about Nahla’s hair is only the latest, but it will probably not be the last.
