The custody battle is heating up between Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry, 44, and her ex, French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, 35. Relatives say the relationship deteriorated over the Christmas holidays. Reportedly, the actress was upset when their daughter, Nahla, 2, became hysterical when Aubry picked her just days before the holiday.
"She was crying and kicking and screaming," claims one source. "She was hanging onto her mother’s legs so she didn’t have to go." a source told People magazine. Berry tried to calm down her daughter and Aubry was impatient. "He got Nahla and forced her into the car."
Berry was extremely upset by the incident and the relationship between the exes – who had been on friendly terms – immediately disintegrated. According to relatives, such incidents had occurred before, causing the actress to fear for her daughter’s safety.
On Monday (January 31), the actress fired her first shot in the custody battle, issuing a public statement that she had “serious concerns for her daughter’s well-being while in the care of her father for any extended period of time and is prepared to take all necessary steps to protect her.”
Ex-partner Gabriel Aubry fired back with a statement saying he was “disappointed in Halle’s decision to falsely malign him publicly,” and that he “refused to air their issues in the press as he believes this may ultimately harm their daughter.”
As cracks begin to appear in the couple’s “amicable” split, and Berry has chosen to make some very serious allegations against her daughter’s father, it brings to mind the term, “parental alienation.” This term describes the dynamic in high-conflict divorces when one parent actively undermines the other. Now it will be up to the courts to sort out the facts.