Jason Merritt/Getty Images; MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images"Uh, no."
—One of Halle Berry's friends, when asked if the now legally feisty star is surprising those who know her well. Halle's former lover, Gabriel Aubrey (and father to her baby girl, Nahla), is probably the only one who's really shocked by her tough stance in the custody battle.
Because, people, let's get real. If Halle's going to speak up if she doesn't like who her ex is dating, she's hardly going to stay quiet if she thinks Gabriel is not as fit a parent as she is.
Which is exactly what she's implying. Where'd she learn these warfare tactics, we wonder?
"Halle's been through a lot," reminds a friend close to Halle. "The parents, the exes, the beating, it all adds up."
What the Halle pal refers to, of course, are Halle's own revelations of when her father struck her mother and sister, and of course, the endings her two marriages, one to Eric Benet, who cheated on Halle, and the other to baseball star David Justice, who abruptly left the 43-year-old beauty more than a decade ago.
"This is just what Halle does: she fights—when she feels she needs to."
So, I guess the question remains, then, for those who are still surprised by the normally gracious and very fan-friendly Berry's lioness legal side, what happened to make her feel so reactionary?
Why is she releasing statements, saying she has "serious concerns" about her model ex? Is it just because he wants spousal support?
Is it just jealousy that Gabriel started looking at younger women like Kardashian?
"He wanted to move on," is what one source close to Halle and Gabriel tells us. And that is all we could manage to get. Hmm. Not much, really, or is it?
Point is, when this tougher, guns-blazing side of Halle's come out in the past, it's usually been for good reason. What's the true circumstance this time?