Hollywood star Halle Berry has turned her back on her family, reveals sister

by Graeme Culliford and Ryan Parry, Daily Mirror 19/02/2011

Halle Berry is to sue ex-husband for custody of their child (Pic: Getty Images)

IT is fast becoming one of the most vicious custody battles in Hollywood history.
Halle Berry’s fight with model Gabriel Aubry over their daughter Nahla has reached fever pitch.
X-Men star Berry has been forced to withdraw from her latest movie amid allegations of child endangerment, unfit parenting and racism.
Halle issued a statement last month saying she had “serious concerns for her daughter’s well-being while in the care of her father” and planned to take him to court to sue for full custody.
Since then, Canadian Aubry, 35, has been accused of calling his ex the “N” word and insisting his child is white.
Sources close to him say the 44-year-old Oscar winner is “controlling” and intent on destroying him.
And in an exclusive interview, Halle’s older sister Renee Berry tells how her famous sibling, whose grandmother emigrated to the US from England, has a long history of claiming she is a victim of abusive men – and white racists. The 51-year-old, who lives in Montgomery, Alabama, also says Halle has cut herself off from the majority of her own African-American family.
Renee says: “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. She used to be very close to my brother Anthony, but she’s cut herself off from him now too. It makes us very upset – none of us understand why she feels the way she does.”
On Wednesday, Halle attended a hearing in LA to see if she could take Nahla, three next month, to New York so she could film comedy New Year’s Eve. Aubry opposed the plan.
Mother-of-two Renee says: “We would love to meet Nahla. We are desperate to understand why Halle is so upset, why she feels she cannot be with us.
“Halle will always be my baby sister. She is the youngest of the five siblings and I met her when she was just a baby. I remember when we were little we’d always play on weekends over at our grandmother Cora Berry’s house.
“I’ve known Halle all her life: through high school, prom, everything.
“We were very close. When she first started making it in showbusiness, we would travel to Atlanta to see her and she would buy my daughter concert tickets. It was only when Halle moved to California that we started to lose touch. Then, around 10 years ago, she began cutting us off completely.”
Renee says Halle became angry with her when she publicly begged her to visit their father, Jerome Berry, who was dying of Parkinson’s disease, at his home in Cleveland, Ohio. Halle had been estranged from her hospital attendant dad since he divorced her mum, Judith, when she was just four years old.
Judith, a former psychiatric nurse whose mother Nellie Dicken moved to the US from Sawley, Derbyshire, is one of the few family members to remain close to her famous daughter.

Halle later alleged her African-American father – who died in 2003 – was a violent alcoholic who beat her and her sister Heidi, now 46.
The actress stated in interviews she believes this was the trauma which later pushed her into making a number of bad choices about men.
Her first short-lived marriage to baseball star David Justice ended in 1996 amid rumours of physical abuse after she took out a restraining order against him.
Her second marriage to musician Eric Benet ended after three years despite him seeking help for an alleged sex addiction, a claim he later denied.
At the moment Halle is dating French actor Olivier Martinez, Kylie Minogue’s former lover, who she met in August when they co-starred in the not-yet-released thriller Dark Tide.
Renee, a US Food Service worker, says that while her mother Edwina Taylor also broke up with Jerome (a short time before he got together with Halle’s mother) her recollections about their childhood are different from her famous sister’s.
She says: “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. My father was a good man who loved all his children – and it makes me upset when anyone says anything different.”
Halle has also claimed she was bullied by racists at her school in Ohio – something Renee cannot understand.
She claims: “I never saw any of that. Halle and her sister Heidi had lots of friends at school.
“I don’t remember racism being a problem.”
Renee, whose 31-year-old daughter Shonda is also now estranged from Halle, adds: “I think that she feels we want something from her. But all we want is to see her again. We love her and we’re proud of her. Shonda looks up to her.”
Renee says Halle still talks to her sister Heidi, but she has cut herself off from most of the rest of the family. And she revealed that the Berry clan had a reunion party in Alabama last year – but Halle didn’t show.
Renee says: “I don’t think she even thought about attending. It is sad because our grandmother Cora, who died in 2003, did not raise us to be apart like this. She raised us to be a family.
“I would love to meet my little niece. And one day that girl is going to want to know who her people are. Halle needs to realise that at some point, you have to let bygones be bygones. You need to learn how to forgive. I hate that she is going through what she is going through with this child custody battle.
“I am sure it is difficult for both her and Aubry, but they should remember that the child comes first – and they should spare the child from being subjected to any of this.”