Candid About Divorce: Halle Berry Files Twice, Gets It Right Second Time
Halle Berry has been candid with the public about her divorce, but less so in her paperwork. In the first divorce petition she filed Monday, October 26, 2015, in Los Angeles, she wrote down her name as Hal Maria, her husband’s as Oliver Martin, and her son’s as Mac Martin. After her husband filed his own divorce petition on Tuesday, she went back and filed another petition on Wednesday, using their real names, Halle Berry, Olivier Martinez and Maceo Martinez.
While no candid opinion is offered about the documentary dance, both the Monday and Wednesday filings give Berry custody based on the “best interests” of her 2-year-old son. As for Olivier Martinez, he is reportedly rethinking their prenuptial agreement which, at the inception, keeps her money separate from his, and vice versa. She has a net worth of $80 million, while his net worth is said to be $20 million.
According to People, both Berry and Martinez are candid about irreconcilable differences, though both agree to Monday as their split-up date, in accordance with court paperwork filed. They both announced their divorce publicly on Tuesday, accompanied by the following joint statement.
“We move forward with love and respect for one another and the shared focus of what is best for our son.”
Hollywood Take took a candid look at a marriage in trouble the previous week, stemming from a $5 million lawsuit by a Los Angeles International Airport employee about a January 4 incident. Taking into account this and other stressors, Berry and Martinez, both 49, maintain that their divorce is “amicable” but the relationship has “run its course.”
People reported that at the time of the incident, Berry and Martinez, their son Maceo and Berry’s daughter Nahla (then 6) were being escorted out of a corridor used for high-profile passengers. Martinez allegedly turned to the employee who was in the way and used a baby car seat to knock him to the ground. A candid dialogue about the divorce would point back to this incident as a factor.
According to International Business Times, Berry and Martinez first met in South Africa on the set of Dark Tide, their 2010 movie, and announced their engagement in March, 2012. After three years of dating, the two tied the knot at Olivier’s Chateau Des Conde in his native France in July, 2013. Berry gave birth to their son Maceo three months later.
While the two have been noted for their temperamental flare-ups, Martinez provided fans a candid view of his explosive side when he got into a tussle with Berry’s ex, Gabriel Aubry, on Thanksgiving morning, in November of 2012. Aubry reportedly showed up with daughter Nahla for the usual custodial switch at Berry’s house when Martinez told him off at the driveway. The argument turned physical, and boxer-actor Martinez got the better of male-model Aubry whose bruises about the face rendered him unable to work. And Martinez earned a reputation to last him until his divorce.
To be candid about Berry’s divorce from the French actor means accepting it as her third failed marriage on top of her other failed relationships. International Business Times notes that her first marriage was to baseball player David Justice in 1993, ending in 1997 with Berry suicidal and depressed. Her second marriage was to rhythm and blues singer Eric Benet in 2001, ending in 2005 due to Benet’s womanizing. She then started seeing French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, and they had a daughter, Nahla, in 2008. She split up with Aubry in 2010 with a judge ordering her to pay him $16,000 a month in child support because she could not live in France full-time with Nahla.
Other celebrities romantically linked with Berry are actors Michael Ealy, Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes, and Kevin Costner.
While candid about her divorce, Halle Berry seems not completely over it, as there are reported sightings of her still wearing her wedding ring.
[Photo by Jason Merritt /Getty Images]
