She's currently in the middle of a custody battle with ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry over their daughter Nahla. But Halle Berry has another family issue in her life that hasn't gained so much press attention - she's estranged from her siblings.
The actress's half-sister Renee Berry accused the Oscar winner of cutting off the African-American side of her family. Renee, a food service worker from Alabama, is desperate to reconnect with her famous sister, especially when she is going through such a difficult time in the courts. Renee is the daughter of Halle's late African-American father Jerome and Edwina Taylor - who broke up with him shortly before he started dating the actress' mother Judith Hawkins.
Although Jerome and Judith split up when Halle was just four years old, Renee remained 'very close' to the future Hollywood star while they were growing up - despite cutting herself off from her father after the divorce.
Renee told the Daily Mirror: 'I’m sad to say it seems like she does not want anything to do with us. I have not spoken to her in about five years. I tried to contact her through her website, to congratulate her on her Oscar, but no one got back to me. We would love to meet Nahla. We are desperate to understand why Halle is so upset, why she feels she cannot be with us.'
In interviews over the years, Halle has alleged Jerome was a violent alcoholic who beat her mother Judith in front of her and sister Heidi. In an interview two years ago, Halle said: 'I saw my mother battered, and could not do anything to stop it. My father was tyrannical, lashing out at her for no reason. I felt the effects that had on our family - I’ve experienced what these women have gone through.'
Renee claims Halle was angry with her when she made a public plea to visit Jerome when he was dying from Parkinson's Disease. Despite Halle's negative memories of her childhood with Jerome, Renee paints a very different picture of their father as a 'good man'. She said: 'My father never beat any of us. He would spank us from time to time, but he never abused us. He liked a drink or two, like anyone else does, but he was not an alcoholic.'
Meanwhile, Berry won the first round in her custody battle with French-Canadian model Aubry last week. The actress received permission from the courts to take the former couple's two-year-old daughter Nahla across country to New York to fulfill a work obligation.
Berry originally withdrew from the film New Year's Eve in order to deal with the custody case after Aubry attempted to stop her taking their daughter with her.
Her part was given to Katherine Heigl, who is already in the Big Apple for filming.
But now the 44-year-old actress has been granted permission to travel it is understood she will take another role in the film.
Aubry has withdrawn his custody petition, but will continue with his paternity action.While a custody petition is public, the paternity action will take place behind closed doors.If accepted by the courts the petition will protect the fatherly rights of the Canadian model. Aubry filed a bid back in December for partial custody of Nahla.
Following a fall-out between the former couple he was said to be concerned that his access to Nahla would be blocked by Berry, as nothing was agreed in writing.
But his move to protect his rights sparked a bitter war of words.
Accusations were made that Aubry used a racial slur against Berry and then, in a particularly nasty turn, a source claimed the model 'went nuts' when his daughter was referred to as 'black'. In an interview which took place prior to the public feud, Berry clearly stated she regarded her daughter - who has both white and African-American heritage - to be 'black'.
She said she subscribes to the 'one-drop theory', which refers to the controversial racial classification of African-Americans that determined who was black in the US.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Sunday, February 20th 2011 at 4:00PM
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