Late last week, the news came out that a court order requiring Gabriel Aubry to have supervised visitation with his daughter Nahla was dropped. The the investigation by Child and Family Services into a neglect claim against Aubry has also been closed. That means that Halle Berry’s attempts to block Aubry’s access to their daughter have been thwarted, at least temporarily. (I’ll be honest, I didn’t cover this story because it came out somewhat late on a Friday and I wanted to clock out for the day.) Radar also reported that Aubry was planning to fight back against Halle and would sue her if she kept dragging him to court. Here’s their insider quote on this. They also include the detail we already heard that Aubry would write a tell-all about Halle if she kept trying to limit his contact with their daughter:

“If he gets dragged in again over baseless claims, that are found to be unsubstantiated and lacking evidence, he will sue her,” a source close to the situation tells RadarOnline.com. “Gabe has had enough and is extremely frustrated with Halle. All of the proceedings in their custody case are sealed but if he were to file a lawsuit against her it would be made public. Gabe has had to jump through hoops because of Halle’s accusations when he takes care of Nahla, and NONE of it has been found to have any merit.”

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Gabriel is also considering writing a tell-all book about his tumultuous relationship with Halle.

[From Radar]

Well now Radar has a follow up that Aubry believes Halle is scheming to have her fiance, French actor Oliver Martinez, adopt Nahla and cut her out of his life entirely. This seems to be the case, considering that Halle has been petitioning the court to approve a request to move to France:

“Gabriel fears that Halle’s ultimate plan is to get him out of his daughter’s life, permanently,” an insider tells RadarOnline.com. “He believes the plan is for Halle to move to France with Nahla and then have Olivier adopt her as his own. She wants a ‘fresh start’ apparently.

“It all makes sense now, the allegations of mistreatment and abuse, the slurs against Gabe in the press, the fight to strip him of custody, he believes it’s all part of a bigger plan to make him appear like an unfit father and get rid of him for good.

“It’s not happening though. Gabe will fight tooth and nail to retain custody of Nahla. He loves that little girl and is determined to always be a part of her life and always be her father.

“Just because Halle is through with him doesn’t mean she can shut him out of her daughter’s life too. Gabe may not have Halle’s money or power but he will not just lie down and take it.”

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Aubry feels fully vindicated after the abuse allegations that were made against him were dismissed, and has made it known that if he is hauled into court again over unfounded claims, he will sue Berry.

And, that’s just the start.

“It’s been pretty nasty so far, but it’s going to get a LOT nastier!” The source tells RadarOnline.com. “Gabriel is ready to fight and if Halle wants to fight dirty then as far as he is concerned she can bring it on. He will match her punch for punch, slur for slur. His relationship with his daughter is at stake and he will do ANYTHING to protect that.”

[From Radar Online]

I see the point so many of you have been making, that Aubry is just responding to Berry’s strongarm tactics, and that he’s doing it out of love for his daughter. It looks like his attempts to fight for Nahla have been successful, for now. There’s also news that the custody judge won’t issue a ruling on Berry’s request to move to France for at least 6-9 months. Given Halle’s track record with men, her situation may have changed by then. I doubt she’ll ever realize the terrible effect her actions may have on her daughter in the long run.

Gabriel is shown out with Nahla yesterday and on 2-19-12. (Pink shirt.) Halle is shown with Nahla on 3-9-12. Credit: WENN.com

A lot of you see Gabriel Aubry as a victim fighting back at the parental alienation and public smearing that he’s suffered at the hands of an ex with a lot more power and resources at her disposal. I don’t think of it as one-sided as that, but I respect your opinion and understand it. I just see both sides as over the top lately, but I do see how it’s more on Halle and how Gabriel is on the defensive role. He is fighting very hard to make sure he still has a relationship with his daughter, Nahla, while Halle is trying to cut him out of Nahla’s life at any cost.

Well now Gabriel is asking for a lot of money in his custody battle, according to both TMZ and Radar. He’s supposedly going for $20k a month child support, which sounds excessive to us, but let’s remember that Halle is worth $70 million. TMZ paints it as Gabriel being greedy, since TMZ gets their stories from camp Halle. Radar, typically camp Gabriel, explains that Gabe is fed up and claims that if he doesn’t get the money he’ll write a tell all about Halle. Now we heard this stuff about the tell all before, but in the earlier version Gabe was too good a person to write one and didn’t want his daughter to have to read it someday. Now he’s claiming that he’s further along in the process of dishing the dirt on Halle, and that he has some six figure offers from major publishers. Does this make him look bad because he wants money, or does this make it look like he’s pushing back from the corner he’s been placed in?

TMZ has learned what Gabriel wants in the way of $$$ — and it’s a lot. We’ve learned Aubry has filed legal docs asking the family law judge to force Halle to give him $15,000 – $20,000 a month for a proper home.

Gabriel has also asked for a laundry list of other things from Halle, including what we’re told is a “very large” amount of money for the little girl’s clothing, as well as money to take the child to Canada to visit his family.

We’re told Halle is fighting Gabriel tooth and nail on his request. The hearing on the money issues was scheduled for Monday, but it’s now been put off until April 9, in part because the family law judge wants to see what the dependency judge does to Gabriel. – From TMZ

Halle Berry is working hard to lock her ex-boyfriend and baby daddy, Gabriel Aubry, into a non-disclosure agreement to prevent the Canadian born model from spilling all about their tumultuous relationship, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

But, it’s going to cost her dearly, as a source tells RadarOnline.com that Gabriel is sick of being portrayed as “an abusive father, a racist and a fool” and is planning to hit Halle where it hurts — in the wallet.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Aubry is being urged by his friends to write a tell-all book about his relationship with Berry. And, although he is wary as he wishes to spare the feelings of the warring couple’s daughter, Nahla, a source close to the situation says he has been approached by publishers offering high six figures.

“Gabe has finally woken up and is going for the money because he knows there is no way he can fight to keep his daughter without it,” the source says. “If he doesn’t get the money he wants from Halle, he is going to go ahead a write a tell-all. Gabe has two separate high six figure offers on the table from NY publishers. Halle is terrified of this happening; it’s her worst nightmare come true — and she’s talking settlement money but locking Gabe into a non disclosure deal. So one way or another he’s going to get paid.

“Gabe has taken a lot of flack without fighting back, but now the gloves are off and he’s going all out. – From Radar

[From TMZ and From Radar]

If a woman was asking for $20,000 a month in child support, would we call it excessive? Probably. Many of you wrote in our last post that you would buy Gabriel’s book if he wrote one. I think he’s just using it as leverage to get Halle to both drop her suit trying to strip him of access to their child and pay child support. The more support Gabriel can get from Halle, the more it legitimizes his role in their daughter’s life, or at least that may be how he’s trying to spin it. I doubt he’s going to write a book. If Halle would have played nice from the beginning it would have been much less expensive for her, that’s for sure. The core issue is Nahla and the fact that she deserves to have parents who respect each other’s role in her life. I don’t see Gabriel as doing anything that would make him deserve being shut out like this.

Gabriel and Nahla are shown at the zoo on 2-19-12. Halle is shown outside Nahla’s school on 2-2-12. Credit: WENN.com

Yesterday we covered the news of Halle Berry switching lawyers in an attempt to get the judge in her custody battle to grant her request to move to France, thus cutting her ex off from their daughter by default. I mentioned that I was awaiting Gabriel’s response in Radar, and that I thought he had stooped to Halle’s level. A lot of you took me to task for that, which is fair. Gabriel is only responding to some incredibly strong-arm tactics to separate him from his daughter. The thing that kind of soured me on Gabriel is an earlier story in Radar, after he was investigated for battery and interviewed by CFS, that he felt like he was living “in a police state.” He may have been unfairly targeted in that instance, and maybe the nanny was acting under instruction from Halle, but the whole thing didn’t sit right with me. I just seemed like both parties were in the wrong. Well now we have Gabriel’s inevitable response to Halle Berry’s lawyer switch. He says that this latest move by Halle to get a ruthless lawyer may backfire on her. I hope he’s right. Here’s some of the report from Radar, with more at the source:

Halle Berry’s decision to dump her long time trusted and respected attorney, Neil Hersh, for legal pitbull, Stephen Kolodny, in her ongoing custody battle with Gabriel Aubry over their daughter Nahla, isn’t fazing the Canadian model and he feels this could actually help his case, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

Halle was unhappy that the family law judge hasn’t made a ruling about her request to move to France,” an insider told RadarOnline.com. “The judge has indicated that more time is needed and more information needs to be gathered before a ruling is made. This wasn’t good enough for Halle, in Gabe’s opinion, so she fired Neil Hersh, who is greatly respected, and hired Stephen Kolodny because he is known as a bulldozer.

“Neither Gabe nor his lawyer are scared or intimidated by Stephen. Gabe thinks this will help his case, because he thinks it shows how desperate and impatient she is. He doesn’t believe either that Halle is afraid for her safety, when was the last time you saw her taking Nahla to school with a bodyguard? He believes it’s just another plot she is hatching to keep Gabriel out of Nahla’s life.”

A formal ruling on Halle’s request to move to France could take up to a year, meanwhile, Gabriel is doing everything he can to be the best parent possible and to spend as much time as he is permitted with his daughter.

“Gabe’s attending his court ordered anger management sessions and parenting classes,” the source says. “He isn’t a bad guy, he is trying to be the best dad possible to Nahla. He feels that Nahla is the collateral damage in all of this, and that breaks his heart.”

[From Radar]

I buy that Gabriel is a good dad, but I also buy that he could benefit from anger management courses, and I’m glad he’s complying with the court order. All in all, this is a convincing story by Gabriel’s side, and I hope that he’s right that Halle will get shut down in court. If it takes a whole year before the judge will rule on her request to move to France she’ll probably be broken up with Oliver Martinez by then anyway. Where is she going to move then, and what will her excuse be? Sure she fears the paparazzi, but she could move an hour or two from L.A. and have a lot more privacy. Or, as many of you have mentioned, she could also just move to a gated community or get more security. Problem solved.

After I wrote all that, another story came out in Radar about how “Gabriel is being urged to write a no-holds barred book about what his relationship with Halle was really about.” He swears he’s not going to write it, but he’s putting it out there very strongly anyway. This pretty much solidifies my earlier opinion of him. Someone needs to take the high road and he’s not doing it! He could have left it with the earlier story, which I thought sounded too mature for him. Here’s part of Radar’s story.

“Gabriel is being urged to write a no-holds barred book about what his relationship with Halle was really about,” a source close to the situation tells radarOnline.com. “From what I can tell, Halle has to be in control at all times, period. It’s the reason that they broke up, because he just couldn’t handle being under her thumb like that. Gabe feels that relationships are about treating each other equally, but in it seems that in Halle’s romantic relationships, this isn’t the case.

“Gabe’s friends want the world to know the real Halle Berry. However, Gabriel has had many offers to write books and give interviews in exchange for a big payday, but he has turned them all down. One day, Nahla is going to be old enough to understand what was going on between her parents, and he wants to be able to look his daughter in the eye, and say everything he has done, has been for her. Writing a book would be a great way to get back at Halle, but what would that get him? Gabe always thinks of his daughter when making any decision. Halle should count her lucky stars that her ex is being a gentleman, especially under these circumstances.”

[From Radar]

Gabriel needs to just STOP. We get it, Halle is manipulative and controlling. And he’s petty and whiny. There’s legitimately defending yourself and there’s being threatening and passive aggressive. At least he’s not actually writing a tell all. Time will tell though, because it sounds like he’s really considering it and is trying to use it as leverage.

Update: A lot of you are pointing out that Gabriel is being pushed in a corner and threatened with having custody of his daughter taken away, and that he’s responding in a way that’s pretty reserved and understandable given the circumstances. I see what you mean and think I did come down too hard on him above. There’s been a lot of back and forth in this case and hopefully Gabriel will retain his parental rights.

Gabe and Nahla are shown at the zoo on 2/19/12 and outside her school on 2/28/12. He’s doing a lot of photo ops. Halle and Nahla are shown on 2/26/12. Credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet

Is the sh-t about to hit the fan? According to TMZ Halle Berry has hired a real “bulldozer” lawyer who previously represented Mel Gibson and is known for getting his way in court. Rich people can easily switch lawyers when they’re not getting results fast enough, but TMZ says this means that Halle is about to dial it up in her custody battle with Gabriel Aubry. I’m also thinking that Halle’s last lawyer tried to get her to bring it down a notch and be more realistic and she told him to stuff it. Halle wants to move to France with her new boyfriend/maybe fiance, Oliver Martinez, and she’s going to make that happen at any cost, particularly to her daughter. I’m just waiting to see what kind of petulant response Gabriel gives Radar Online about this one. I’m not on Halle’s side by any means, I just think Gabriel has quickly stooped to her level. He still deserves a relationship with his daughter, though. Here’s TMZ’s report on this:

Halle Berry has dumped another man … but this one has been with her way longer than all the others — her longtime lawyer/confidante, Neal Hersh … TMZ has learned.

Here’s the lowdown. Our sources tell us Halle wants to go after her baby daddy Gabriel Aubry with nuclear weapons — metaphorically speaking — and she thinks Hersh is too much of a gentleman to wage that kind of legal war, even though he has guided Halle through 2 divorces, a custody war and various other legal skirmishes.

So we’ve learned Halle has hired Stephen Kolodny (above), who is legendary in L.A. legal circles for the level of legal warfare she so wants. You may recall Kolodny repped Mel Gibson in his epic battle with Oksana Grigorieva — and that got kinda nasty.

Kolodny has already gone to court with Halle. We’ve learned last Thursday the new duo went to dependency court to have more restrictions placed on Aubry. The dependency judge has already ordered that Gabriel can only have contact with Nahla in the presence of a monitor. On Thursday, we’re told the judge voiced additional concerns and ordered Gabriel to return the child to Halle earlier than the 6 PM deadline on days he has custody.

Kolodny will have his hands full trying to convince the family law judge that Halle should be able to move to France with the child because she’s concerned about paparazzi and safety.

[From TMZ]

Will Halle get her way? Will this go down as she’s expecting and will she get to both smear her daughter’s father in the press and limit his contact with her? Even if the custody case resolves exactly as she’s hoping, I doubt it will be a happily ever after for Halle. It rarely is. The novelty of France will wear off and so will the novelty of her latest relationship. Maybe I’m wrong, though, maybe she’s matured as a person. Although if that were the case she would be staying put in LA and working on establishing a friendly co-parenting relationship with her ex. Can it be that hard to get along for the sake of their daughter?

Halle is shown on 2/22 and 2/24 outside Nahla’s school. She’s shown with Oliver and Nahla on 2/26 and with Oliver alone on 2/28/12. Credit: LRR/FameFlynet Pictures

Woman explains how she signed her baby away. Two more videos with more background on this story are below.

I’m a mom, and whenever I hear a story about a mom losing access to her kid my heart kind of sinks and I immediately feel for the other mother. Then I force myself to let logic kick in and I wonder how it got to that point. Like there must have been so many warning signs that this woman ignored and this story is not adding up for me. I do feel incredibly sorry for her, and I hope she gets both attention to her cause (which she is getting) and permanent primary custody of her daughter. The couple that scammed her into giving up her baby should be criminally charged. In the mean time I hope that baby is cherished and loved.

Ok so if you haven’t heard this story yet it’s a doozy. The gist is that a naive 29 year-old single mom met a guy online who promised her the world and then some. He claimed to have an important job with the CIA, he claimed to be from a wealthy and prominent family, and she bought it all and had a baby with him without every checking him out at all. She apparently didn’t even look in his wallet or glance at his credit cards since he lied to her about his name too. Then after she had his baby, he asked her to sign papers giving him rights as the father. She didn’t bother to read them at all and actually signed papers in which she relinquished all parental rights to the guy. Some time later, he took the baby for a visit, didn’t bring her back the next day, and dropped the news that he was married and that she’d granted him full rights to their daughter. Here’s more:

Kristy Gaffney says she thought she’d found love when she met a man online. Now the Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania woman claims she’s in the battle of her life — fighting for the child they had.

“I thought like he was Mr. Perfect, ha, ha,” Gaffney told NBC10 Philadelphia investigator Harry Hairston. “There’s no words for it. I’m just so angry at him.”

Gaffney said she met a man who told her he was Ed while surfing a popular dating website. The single mother, who is 29, said at first she was standoffish, but eventually warmed up to meeting him at a public place. Gaffney says that first date was at a restaurant just outside of Philadelphia and it led to many more dates and an intimate relationship.

Gaffney said her new love interest told her he was a businessman, divorced, worked for the C.I.A. and was related to one of the most well-known, wealthiest families in the country.
“He said, ‘My last name is Dupont,’ and I’m like, okay. And I said, ‘related to the Duponts?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’”

Gaffney says eventually Ed started talking about wedding bells.

“He also was talking about having kids. He said he never could have kids because him and his wife, she couldn’t get pregnant,” Gaffney said.

As their relationship continued, Gaffney got pregnant. She said at first Ed demanded she get an abortion and then changed his mind. After the baby was born, Gaffney said Ed asked her to sign some papers that would ensure he could claim his rights as the baby’s father. Gaffney said although she didn’t understand the paperwork, she signed it anyway and the two shared caring for the baby while Ed rehabbed his home so they could all live together as a family.

One day, Ed didn’t return their child as planned. Instead, Gaffney said he dropped this bombshell:
“That’s when he told me that the paperwork I actually signed was me giving up the rights, not to him to have his rights. It was me giving up my rights so his wife could adopt my baby, and I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’”

As it turned out, Ed wasn’t Ed Dupont. He was Emmitt Dippold, who was still married and he and his wife were in the final stages of adopting the baby.

“I couldn’t even believe that someone was capable of something like that,” Gaffney said. She took Dippold and his wife to court to get the adoption overturned.

We reached out to Dippold at his office and his home for his side of the story, but were not able to speak with him. In court documents, Dippold denied that he ever claimed to be a Dupont and says Gaffney may have assumed that because his email reads ‘ew-dupont.’ Dippold denied that he ever wanted Gaffney to have an abortion and denied that he ever talk about marriage. He said Gaffney should have known all along that he was married because pictures of he and his wife were in plain view the times he and Gaffney were in his home together.

In the end, the Judge believed Gaffney and overturned the adoption based on fraud. But the fight isn’t over because the Dippolds filed an appeal. Dippold’s attorney declined comment for our story, saying it’s inappropriate to talk about pending custody and adoption matters.

[From Today.MSNBC.com]

In her appearance on the Today Show, (video above) Gaffney revealed that despite the fact that the judge sided with her, the appeal (even though the judge says it’s totally frivolous) means that the baby will stay with the Dippolds for up to several more months. She still only gets to see her daughter every other weekend. This whole thing sounds outrageous and I don’t blame her for going public. Even if she must have made a mountainload of mistakes to get to this point, she doesn’t deserve to lose custody of her baby. It takes some terrible people to plot to steal a mother’s baby like that.

Background for the interview above:

An earlier interview and background story with Gaffney:

Note that this news came out a few weeks ago, but this woman was just on The Today Show so I wanted to report on it.

On Friday Radar ran three stories on the latest developments in the Gabriel Aubry and Halle Berry custody battle. TMZ ran two reports on this story. As we’ve come to expect, TMZ has Halle’s camp’s side while Radar is getting the deets from Gabriel. A judge ruled on Friday that Gabriel must be supervised while he’s with his nearly four-year-old daughter, Nahla, and that she cannot stay with him overnight. This comes after allegations that he pushed and yelled at a nanny while she was holding Nahla. Both TMZ and Radar carried the news about supervised visitation. TMZ had a follow-up that Gabriel could lose all custody rights to Nahla, although Radar claims that was never on the table.

Gabriel is contesting the court ruling that he attend anger management courses, and according to Radar he feels “railroaded” by Halle and the courts. Radar also claims that no signs of physical abuse against Nahla or the nanny have been found. Here’s their “team Gabe” insider quote:

Reports say that DCFS is concerned about Nahla while she is with her father, but our source says this is simply NOT the case.

“DCFS has found no signs of physical or verbal abuse regarding Gabriel. They just want the judge to formally order Aubry to attend parenting classes with Halle and take the anger management classes. He has been resisting that because he feels like he has been railroaded unfairly. Gabriel wants the nanny to be held accountable for lying because he says he never even touched her,” the insider says.

[From Radar]

TMZ has the “team Halle” quotes that Gabe is a big bad guy who scares his little girl.

Gabriel Aubry has been accessed of multiple incidents of child neglect and endangerment … and one of the accusers is 3-year-old Nahla, TMZ has learned.

Sources tell us the L.A. Department of Children and Family Services conducted numerous interviews with people familiar with the relationship between Gabriel, Halle Berry and Nahla. We’re told DCFS now has numerous incidents that have raised concerns about Gabriel’s ability to properly parent his child.

We’re told DCFS conducted an interview with Nahla, who talked about her father and described incidents involving him screaming at her — and how it made her extremely frightened.

Our sources say DCFS has information about Gabriel yanking the child out of the nanny’s hand, allegedly pushing the nanny while holding the child, and putting the child in harm’s way while Halle was shooting movie in Europe.

As TMZ previously reported, the Dependency Court ordered that Gabriel can only have contact with his daughter in the presence of a monitor to ensure the safety of Nahla. But we’re told that is just the beginning … there will be numerous other hearings, as well as additional requirements that Gabriel must fulfill, which will include various forms of counseling.

As we reported earlier, Gabriel agreed to anger management counseling … but we’re told the Dependency Court will order more than that.

Just a note … Dependency Court is different from the family court where Garbiel and Halle have been frequent visitors over the past year. Dependency Court is designed specifically to protect a child when there are signs of neglect or abuse. Being hauled into Dependency Court is far more serious than a family law skirmish.

[From TMZ]

Even assuming this is all true from an objective viewpoint, why put it out there? Gabriel is always going to be the father of Halle’s daughter, and Nahla is probably going to google herself and read this one day. It really seems like Halle’s game plan is to shut Gabriel out of their daughter’s life at any cost, not to get him the help he may need to be a better father. On some level I get why she wants to protect her daughter, but Nahla would be best served by parents who tried to keep their custody battle out of the press for starters. We’re hearing he said/she said stories constantly as each side strives to get their version out there. They should focus on their daughter and what’s best for her, but that’s obviously not happening here, nor will it happen without a giant maturity leap by both parties.

Meanwhile Halle is still trying to move to France, and Radar claims that the judge is “unlikely to grant” her formal request to do so with their daughter. That’s what Gabriel is hoping will happen. Will Halle marry Oliver Martinez soon, and how long will they last until we learn that he’s a jerk too?

These photos are from 2-2-12 and 2-3-12. Credit: WENN.com

I feel like every day when I read news about Halle Berry and Gabriel Aubry’s custody battle I change allegiances, although lately I’ve been firmly in the “team Nahla, her parents are whacked” camp. This latest story about Halle’s very serious death threats from a stalker has me feeling sorry for her and understanding why she would want to move overseas. (Until I read the counter argument, which is covered below.) Yesterday it looked like Halle was moving to France out of spite because she can’t legally strip Gabriel of visitation rights, but that might just be an added bonus for her. Not only is Halle’s stalker just out of jail, there’s also a crazy dude who wants to kill her (and Madonna) who just escaped from an insane asylum. It sounds like something out of a movie, but then so does most of Halle’s life. Here’s the story, from E!:

E! News has confirmed that the Oscar winner filed a request in family court to be able to move to France with her daughter Nahla because she fears for her life.

Two men, including one convicted of stalking Berry, are no longer locked up and the actress has no interest in finding out what their plans are now that they’re out.

But wait, how did her convicted stalker get out again?

Richard Franco pleaded guilty to stalking Berry and was sentenced to 386 days in jail, but was given credit for 193 days already served and then released Saturday after amassing 193 days’ worth of credits for work and good behavior.

He remains on five years’ probation and there’s a 10-year restraining order in place requiring him to stay away from Berry and her family.

“This person has invaded and trampled upon the most fundamental sense of security I have and I am extremely frightened of him and what he might do to me and those I love,” Berry stated in her criminal complaint against Franco.

Meanwhile, Berry’s camp has been informed that Robert Hoskins, a man who allegedly threatened to slit Berry’s throat—and who also allegedly threatened to slit Madonna’s throat and was shot by the Material Girl’s bodyguard in 1995—escaped from a mental institution last week.

[From E! Online]

Halle has been looking for a more secure mansion in Malibu, according to TMZ. Of course Radar has Gabriel Aubry’s deep thoughts on his custody battle, as per usual. They’re trying to call out Halle on her claims that she’s so scared and are saying that she’s using it as a convenient excuse. This rings true to me, but again I’m thinking that both sides are pushing back too hard and making it much worse than it needs to be.

Berry has formally petitioned to move to France with Nahla and her fiancé, Olivier Martinez, but she is going to have to go to battle with Aubry who has vowed to fight the move. Under current terms of their custody agreement, neither parent can move out of Los Angeles County without the other’s permission.

Aubry is absolutely stunned that Halle is attempting to whisk his daughter to a foreign country. “Gabriel feels that Halle is just being vengeful and vindictive by attempting to move Nahla to France,” an insider close to the situation tells RadarOnline.com.

“First of all, if Halle is concerned for her safety, why is she routinely seen around town without a bodyguard? Yes, she has had several stalkers over the years, but she has a top of the line security system at her house, and she can certainly afford to move to a safer location in Los Angeles in a gated community. Why would Halle want to take the father of her daughter out of her life and move to a foreign country? It just defies logic.”

[From Radar]

We haven’t heard any confirmation that Halle and Oliver are actually engaged, but this story suggests that’s the case. The “source” goes on to say:

“Halle will be getting married for the third time. Gabriel’s lawyers are going to argue that there is nothing to guarantee this marriage will last. What then? Nahla could be uprooted again, she isn’t luggage for heavens sake,” the source tells RadarOnline.com. “She needs her father in her life. Nahla and Gabriel are very, very close. He has always played a major role in Nahla’s life and the fact the Halle is attempting to sever that relationship disgusts him. He feels that Halle is disgruntled because she was unsuccessful in having restraining orders granted against him, and lost her attempts to have his custody of Nahla stripped. The timing of this is very, very suspect. Nahla would be very isolated in France, primarily because the lack of family and friends, and the language barrier.”

[From Radar Online]

I agree that Nahla should stay in LA where she speaks the language and goes to school. It does seem punitive of Halle to want to move overseas at this time, but the argument that she has two homicidal stalkers on the loose is a pretty powerful one.

I would be more on Gabriel’s side if he would just stop talking to the press. He probably doesn’t have any other recourse to all the stories Halle is putting out there, though. Poor Nahla, really.

Here’s Halle out alone and looking annoyed yesterday on 2-9-12. She’s also shown with Nahla and the Nanny on 2-2-12 and with Oliver on 1-29-12. Credit: Osvaldo/FameFlynet Pictures. Gabriel Aubry is shown with Nahla on 2-3-12. Credit: WENN.com

According to TMZ, Halle Berry has requested permission from the judge presiding over her custody case to move from Los Angeles, Cal. to France, where her boyfriend, actor Oliver Martinez, hails from. Halle and Oliver have been living in LA and have staged several happy family photo ops with Halle’s nearly four year-old daughter, Nahla. Halle’s ex, model Gabriel Aubry, is of course under investigation for misdemeanor battery and child endangerment stemming from an incident about two weeks ago in which a nanny alleges that Aubry pushed her. Halle lost a bid to have Gabriel stripped of all visitation rights while the investigation is underway. If Halle gets her way and is allowed to move to France with Nahla, she could be able to achieve what she’s after and make it incredibly hard for Gabriel to see his daughter.

Reports have Aubry triumphant in last weeks’ court ruling, although Child and Family Services has been recommending he have supervised visitation for now. We’ve also heard that he’s been ordered to anger management classes, that counseling has been recommended for both Halle and Nahla, and that Halle and Gabriel have been advised to take parenting classes together. Here’s the latest story from TMZ:

Halle Berry is asking the judge in her custody war for permission to move to France with Nahla — and baby daddy Gabriel Aubry is saying … over my dead body.

TMZ has learned Halle filed papers with the court requesting the move and the hearing is pending. Sources tell us Gabriel is livid because he believes the move is punitive and designed to strip him of any contact with his daughter.

And Gabriel is particularly upset because Halle’s longtime boyfriend Olivier Martinez will be living with Halle and Nahla if the move is approved … informed sources tell TMZ.

Halle could have an argument that it’s safer for Nahla to be in Europe … especially because her latest stalker — who broke onto her property multiple times — has recently been released from jail.

[From TMZ]

That stalker argument is a weak one. We’re talking about Halle Berry, who can afford a state of the art security system and ’round the clock security guards. She can build a fence if she wants.

I was somewhat on Halle’s side when we first heard this latest news about Gabriel. It seemed like all those stories about his explosive temper might be true. Now I see the other side a lot more clearly. This is a petty move by Halle meant to pull rank and show Gabriel that she’s serious about keeping their daughter away from him. I wouldn’t put it past her to have pulled the nanny’s strings that led to this whole issue. I’m not saying that Gabriel isn’t to blame for his temper, or that he’s not as much in the wrong. It just seems like there’s much more to this story. I’m sure we’ll read the other side on Radar sometime today.

Gabriel is shown with Nahla on 2-3-12. Halle is shown picking Nahla up from school with the nanny on 2-2-12. Credit: WENN.com

I first wrote most of this story with the assumption that Gabriel Aubry had just won his court custody battle, and that the judge had ruled that no changes be instituted in his joint custody agreement with Halle Berry for their nearly four year-old daughter, Nahla. However, a careful re-reading of this story on Radar helped me to realize that I was wrong. I asked Kaiser to read it too, and she came to the same conclusion. Gabriel Aubry’s team has been feeding details to Radar (see these two articles) and in this latest leak, they try to make the claim in the title that “Halle Berry’s Baby Daddy, Gabriel Aubry, Triumphant In Custody Battle.” All the article claims, though, is that the hearing went heavily in Aubry’s favor. Nowhere in the article does it state that a ruling has been made, just that Child and Family Services recommends that no changes be made to the current agreement.

To recap: Halle was calling for a “no contact” order following an incident in which a nanny alleged that Gabriel pushed and screamed at her. The nanny’s request for a restraining order against Gabriel following that instance was not granted, nor was the “no contact” order by Halle. An investigation into the charges of battery and child endangerment against Gabriel is ongoing. Meanwhile Child and Family Services has recommended joint parenting classes for Halle and Gabriel, counseling for each of them, anger management classes for Gabriel and counseling for Nahla. They’ve also apparently recommended that the custody agreement continue as is, but that’s just their recommendation. Here’s Radar’s report. TMZ has very little detail on this court hearing, probably since it favors Gabriel and there’s no official ruling yet.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported the former couple squared off in a Los Angeles courtroom on Monday over allegations that Aubry pushed the nanny while holding the toddler. The hunky Canadian model has emphatically denied the allegations, but is under criminal investigation for battery and child endangerment.

The Los Angeles Department of Children & Family Services became involved after the nanny filed a police report, which is routine in any situation when allegatiosn of child abuse are made.

“Social workers recommended that absolutely no changes be made in the current custody agreement, which the judge gives tremendous weight and consideration to,” a source close to the situation tells RadarOnline.com. “Halle and Gabriel essentially have joint custody of Nahla. DCFS found absolutely no basis to the claims that Gabriel physically assaulted the nanny, or has ever physically abused Nahla.

“There was nothing found to substantiate the nanny’s claims, and social workers felt that a restraining order that Halle was seeking wasn’t necessary, and would actually harm Nahla by keeping her from her father…”

While it appears that Aubry will be triumphant in the custody dispute, he and the Academy Award winning actress are going to have to learn together the best way to raise their daughter.

“The report does recommend that Halle and Gabriel attend parenting classes together, so that they can co-parent Nahla. The classes will give them the tools to work through their issues, and hopefully become better parents for it,” an insider said.

Meanwhile, “Gabriel Aubry is unlikely to be charged with any crime in relation to the police report the nanny filed,” a law enforcement source revealed.

[From Radar]

This is probably accurate, and Gabriel may win this custody battle, but isn’t it dumb and reactionary for his side to feed details to the press? Isn’t the judge going to see this report on Radar and go “hold on a minute, this is misleading”? I get that Gabriel is trying to counter all the happy family photo ops Halle is staging with her fiance and “Gabriel is an abusive ass” stories that she’s leaking, but he’s coming off almost as badly as she is. Someone needs to take the high road in this, just for the sake of their daughter. It’s going to be interesting if they ever do attend joint parenting classes. How do you teach exes to grow the hell up and stop fighting over every little thing?

Photos are from 1-29, 1-31 and 2-1. Credit: Fameflynet and WENN.com

In our last article on Gabriel Aubry, we mentioned that an emergency hearing requested by Halle Berry for a “no contact” order between Aubry and their nearly four year-old daughter, Nahla, was denied. Aubry currently has supervised visits with Nahla, and it’s expected that those will continue for the time being. To recap: Aubry has been accused by a nanny of verbal abuse, of pushing her on two occasions, once with Nahla in her arms, and of grabbing Nahla from her. A bid by the nanny to get a restraining order against Aubry was also denied. (Radar has the PDF of the ruling denying the restraining order, and the boxes are checked for “does not show reasonable proof,” “fails to show that he or she will suffer great or irreparable harm,” and “fails to show threat of future harm.” It’s written below that in long hand that the petition is “Insufficient and speculative. If there are concerns they should be resolved in family court.”)

Aubry is currently being investigated for misdemeanor battery and child endangerment in conjunction with an altercation with the nanny on January 18. As part of that investigation, child and family services has interviewed both Berry and Aubry separately, as is reportedly standard in cases like this. Radar has the details of the interview with Aubry, and after getting the semi-official excuse from Aubry camp’s that “the nanny tripped” and wasn’t pushed, they’re also getting his very deep thoughts on having to speak to authorities. Poor pretty Gabe feels like “he is living in a police state.”

The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services has formally interviewed Halle Berry’s baby daddy, Gabriel Aubry, in connection with allegations that he pushed a nanny while she was holding the former couple’s three year old daughter, Nahla, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

Aubry’s interview with social workers was thorough and exhaustive. “These are very serious allegations and Gabriel was obviously very nervous,” a source close to Aubrey tells RadarOnline.com. “Gabriel feels that he is living in a police state as far as his time with his daughter is concerned.

“He is a doting and loving father and extremely attentive to Nahla. His daughter wasn’t present when the interview took place. The investigation will remain open at this point, but it’s not uncommon at all for officials to keep an investigation open out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety of the child.”

[From Radar]

As many of you mentioned in our last story, saying that a person “tripped” or fell is a classic abuser tactic. I’m not saying that Gabe is a nasty monster, or even that all these allegations ring true to me, but he’s not helping his case at all by leaking these ridiculous explanations and defensive quotes to the tabloids. It really does seem that he’s a devoted dad and that he loves Nahla, but if he has anger management issues he needs to have supervised visitation. It’s still hard to know which side to believe given Halle’s obvious tactics in the past to both smear Gabriel and to make sure she pushes him out of their daughter’s life. The truth is probably somewhere in between.