Halle Berry Takes Olivier Martinez Public After Bailing on Broadway Due to Baby-Daddy Drama

Actress won't take part in in Martin Luther King Jr.-based play The Mountaintop because she is having "custody issues"

By Marianne Garvey Apr 18, 2011 3:45 PMTags
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Halle Berry can't deal with Broadway right now—her private drama's hogging the spotlight.

The Oscar winner has pulled out of The Mountaintop, a production based on the final day in the life of Martin Luther King Jr. that she was set to star in this fall.

Her reason?

It boils down to lingering issues with her ex Gabriel Aubry over their 3-year-old baby daughter, Nahla. 

In a statement, producers said that Berry was dropping out of the play because of "child custody issues" and that they will be announcing her replacement shortly. The award-winning drama, written by Katori Hall, stars Samuel L. Jackson as King and will start previews on Sept. 22 before opening Oct. 13 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater. Berry was set to play Camae, a maid at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.  The story is an imagined account of the night before King's assassination there.

The wording was virtually identical to Berry's statement earlier this year when she announced she was pulling out of Gary Marshall's rom-com New Year's Eve. Aubry had filed for joint custody and child support in December. Although the two managed to reach a short-term accord allowing Berry to film her part last month, there still has been no formal end to the legal battle—in fact, the two logged more time in family court just last week.

Berry's love life, meanwhile, appears to be drama-free. The actress made her first "official" public appearance with boyfriend Olivier Martinez (we've caught them many times before, but this was their debut in public as a real couple). She donned an ultra-sexy in a skintight hot pink dress for the Silver Rose Awards Gala in Beverly Hills where she was honored yesterday.

Take that, Gabriel!