Here are some new photos of Halle Berry at the Chicago premiere of her new film, The Call. I don’t know who made Halle’s little black dress – it doesn’t look new, does it? This looks like something she’s had in her closet since the 1990s, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Halle was at the premiere with her costar Morris Chestnut (that man is FINE) and no Olivier Martinez. Hunh. It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve seen Olivier and Halle out together, but maybe that’s just because I haven’t been paying attention to her recently.

Maybe Olivier didn’t come out for this premiere is because… who does first premieres in Chicago these days? Maybe the film was set in Chicago (?), but it wasn’t filmed there, so I don’t really get it. The off-the-radar premiere might not bode well for the film, which doesn’t look that amazing anyway. I mean, if you’re into budget-looking suspense-horror-thrillers, then you might be into this:

Eh. I would watch it on TV. It’s been a while since Halle’s had a hit movie, right? Her box office appeal has always been hit-or-miss. Maybe this was just a cheap film to make and they’re barely spending any money on promotion and then they’ll just sell it like crazy overseas and it will make some money.

Incidentally, as I mentioned in that Fassbender post earlier today, Halle is rumored to be joining the cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past, revisiting her role as Storm. I can’t imagine this will be some meaty role, but it might be interesting.

Photos courtesy of C.M. Wiggins/WENN.com.

Salma Hayek and Halle Berry. Two ladies with crazy bodies and beautiful faces. Two ladies with Oscars/Oscar nominations under their belts. Two ladies who were on the knife’s edge of being total disasters and totally pulling it off last night at the Oscars. Let’s start with Halle Berry in this Versace gown. Was anyone else expecting Halle to announce that her gown was Zuhair Murad and that she had hired Jennifer Lopez’s stylist? If Jennifer Lopez had been invited to the Oscars this year (Why wasn’t she? She almost always comes), J.Lo would have worn this gown. Is that bad? Like, should Oscar winner Halle Berry be wearing something that looks so J.Lo? I guess it’s okay because it’s Versace, maybe? This gown would have been a total disaster on someone else, but Halle comes close to pulling it off maybe.

Salma Hayek wore this Alexander McQueen gown – I think only Salma and Amanda Seyfried were wearing McQueen last night. And neither gown was a very good example of the label (or maybe they were good examples of how the McQueen label is faltering under Sarah Burton’s leadership). Obviously, Salma’s body is crazy and she looks poured into this gown. But the whole high-neck thing is very drag-queeny to me, and I’m not sure about the black and gold combo. Also: her hair was a MESS. Is that a Q-tip in there? Did anyone else see Salma’s bitchface during the Oscar telecast? She was not pleased about her seat.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

Here are some photos of Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez out together in Miami outside their hotel on Saturday. The presumably happy couple spent Superbowl weekend in Miami, where it’s nice and warm and sunny in the mid to upper 70s. I’m jealous! It’s so cold here and I’m sick of the wintry weather. Halle wore a very cute black sleeveless sheath dress with a gorgeous beaded neckline. It looked like a glamorous beach cover up and she paired it with some flip flops. She usually looks so amazing. Olivier was more goofy than cool in a long sleeve blue polo top with a big cobra emblem. (It’s probably some high fashion brand that I’ve never heard of. The closest I could find was “Shelby Cobra” Update: which is a car, my bad.) He’s also wearing those big jeans he loves and some cowboy boots.

The last we saw Halle, she was looking gorgeous in Vivienne Westwood at the NAACP Awards on Friday, in LA. So the next day she flew to Miami, where she and Olivier have conveniently been getting papped all over the place. (More photos of their coupled-up weekend are here.)

As the Daily Mail notes, little Nahla must be back with her dad in LA while Halle is off for a romantic weekend in Florida. Halle probably still wishes she were in Paris permanently, but as far as I know she doesn’t speak French (she was only learning from what I heard) and it’s around 40 degrees in Paris this week, with snow expected at the end of the week. I’m just saying. It’s not like she’s flying off to Paris for a romantic weekend.

Halle has a new movie out in mid March called The Call, co-starring Abigail Breslin. The synopsis: “When veteran 911 operator Jordan (Halle Berry) takes a life-altering call from a teenage girl (Abigail Breslin) who has just been abducted, she realizes that she must confront a killer from her past in order to save the girl’s life.” Horror/thriller films are not my bag, but this could do well at the box office. Not that Halle’s films have been doing well at the box office lately.

photo credit: FameFlynet

These are some photos from Friday night’s NAACP Image Awards in LA – you can read the full winners list here. Viola Davis won Best Actress for Won’t Back Down and Denzel Washington won Best Actor for Flight. Halle Berry was up for Best Actress (for Cloud Atlas) but she lost, obviously, and so she maybe looked kind of foolish in retrospect dominating the red carpet the way she did. Halle did look great though – she wore this beautiful Vivienne Westwood gown which makes her body and skin look amazing. Note: she’s wearing her engagement ring. God, that thing is so ugly, right?

I’m not sure who Joy Connor is, but OMG THIS DRESS. She looks like she mauled a Muppet and then wore its carcass.

Alfre Woodard looks fantastic! That color is beautiful on her, and her hair looks spectacular.

Freida Pinto looks fantastic in this James Ferreira gown. Should I consider this dress Grecian-inspired or sari-inspired? Great color on her.

Sandra Oh – pretty color on her, but the overall effect is meh.

I don’t love anything about Kerry Washington’s Oscar de la Renta look. First, the hair is too severe. I think she regrets a bad bangs choice and she’s trying to grow them out, but this is not the way to make it work. As for the dress… it just doesn’t look… right? Like, it’s two ugly dresses put together to make something super-fug. But! Kerry was a big winner last night – she won awards for Django Unchained, Scandal, and a public service award.

I love Archie Panjabi so, so much but I’ve gotten to the point where I can admit to myself (and all of you) that she always looks far better on The Good Wife than she ever looks on the red carpet. The stylists at The Good Wife just know how to sex her up and make her look so badass and beautiful. She always disappoints me on the red carpet. It’s not that this Lorena Sarbu dress is BAD, per se, but it’s just kind of blah.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Apart from maybe Lucy Lui’s Gone with The Wind disaster, Halle Berry was just about the only Globes attendee wearing a printed dress last night. She was in a celestial print pastel one-shoulder draped Atelier Versace. The bustline made it look like one of her boobs was hanging lower than the other. In true Halle form, she showed off some of her enviable stomach through this dress. So did Halle pull it off? I’ll be damned if she did. Halle loves her 90s fashion and she’s about the only woman who seems to consistently rock it with style. Halle looks gorgeous and offbeat here. She was true to form. Still, this was not occasion appropriate, but what the hell does Halle care? She just wants to look hot. Also, Halle’s eyes look different, don’t they?

This post is somewhat dedicated to the leg-flashers, the women who stuck their legs out, Jolie-style, through the high slit in their gowns. The more time that passes, the more I realize that Jolie was somewhat of a trailblazer for this trend and that we should reserve our mocking for those who follow it blindly. Like I doubt any of these women did this as a joke, particularly Eva Longoria here who is straining to show as much thigh as possible. Look at her caterpillar eyelashes and her Bride of Frankenstein poof. Eva thinks she’s super hot in this black lace dress with slits everywhere. This mess of a dress is custom Emilio Pucci.

Heidi Klum was in her latest go-to designer, Alexandre Vauthier. For Heidi, this tight, high slit gown isn’t bad. For anyone else it’s been done before and it’s not that interesting. Also check out how orange Heidi is.

Also very orange and try-hard is Lea Michele. We just saw her very pap-friendly vacation with her boyfriend, Corey Monteith, so some of this radioactive glow is probably natural, but it looked pretty fake to me on screen. Lea was in Elie Saab. It’s not a bad dress, but she bugs me so much I have a hard time admiring her fashion. Did anyone else get annoyed by the constant L’oreal haircare commercials featuring Lea that aired during the breaks?

And finally Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in black Saint Laurent. This is probably some high fashion gown that I’m not “getting,” but it just looks like a gothic mess to me, like something I would wear to an eighth grade ball and think was cool. I like the belt. I guess Rosie was there as Jason Statham’s date, so they must be going somewhat strong. We heard breakup rumors about these two just about a month ago.

Statham needs to shave that hot head of his. Hair is not a good look for him.

Photo credit: FameFlynet and PRPhotos

I had no idea that this case was still ongoing, but apparently it was and has been settled. You may remember that Halle Berry’s ex, Gabriel Aubry, received a beatdown at the hands of her fiance, fellow actor Olivier Martinez. It went down on Thanksgiving at Berry’s house when Aubry arrived for a custody handoff of their daughter, Nahla. Martinez and Berry insisted that Aubry started the fight, despite the fact that Aubry’s injuries were much more severe. Aubry’s entire face looked battered (photos here) while the only damage to Olivier was on his hands. The security cameras at Berry’s house suspiciously never captured the fight, because they were allegedly pointing to the entrance to her home instead of the front door area where the fight went down. It was all rather convenient to support Berry and Olivier’s side. For his part, Aubry filed a restraining order against Olivier, which he eventually withdrew. Well it’s settled now, as TMZ reports:

Gabriel Aubry is in the clear in the Thanksgiving Day brawl at Halle Berry’s house … with one string attached.

TMZ has learned … the L.A. City Attorney conducted two office hearings — one where Halle and Gabriel’s sparring partner Olivier Martinez showed up together and another where Gabriel showed up alone on a different day.

Sources tell TMZ … the case has now been resolved and Gabriel will not be criminally prosecuted, PROVIDED he keeps his nose clean for a year.

TMZ previously reported … anger management was on the table as a possible condition to avoid prosecution, but the City Attorney has a policy of neither confirming nor denying specifics.

[From TMZ]

Note how terse this report is and how they again bring up the anger management issue but “don’t know” if Aubry was ordered to anger management classes. This suggests that their dear source, Halle Berry, isn’t too happy with this outcome.

As Kaiser reported last week, Halle and Olivier were in Paris for Christmas without Nahla. Nahla was with her dad, the one who has been fighting to be with her ever since Halle tried to cut him out of the picture.

There’s a new story about Halle in this week’s Star. Apparently Halle wants Nahla to go to an exclusive private kindergarten in LA called The Buckley School. Parents don’t want her around, though, probably due to the paparazzi. A source whose child supposedly attends the school tells Star that Halle “is full of drama and always has trouble with her men… We pay a lot of money for this school, and the last thing we want is trouble.” So does that mean Halle is going to have to find a different school for Nahla? I only feel for Nahla, who doesn’t deserve to be put in the middle of all this.

Gabriel is shown collecting Nahla from school on 11-30-12. He’s also shown outside the gym, before his beatdown, on 11-14-12. Photos of Halle and Olivier are from 12-23-12 in Paris. Credit: WENN.com and Fame

Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez were in Paris for Christmas – these are pics of them on Sunday, in his-and-her leather. I hate that I love what both of them are wearing. I wanted to be able to mock it… but they both look incredibly attractive in these pics. His-and-her leather, his-and-her t-necks, his-and-her hair products… but it oddly works on them, at least aesthetically. They were photographed as they checked out two churches in Paris, St. Sulpice and St-Germain des Pres, and there are rumors that they were scouting for a wedding location. Will they marry in Paris? Eh. Sure, why not. Note the interesting little aside in this Us Weekly story:

It looks like Christmas is going to be a lot more peaceful than Thanksgiving was for Halle Berry.

On Sunday Dec. 23, the Oscar-winning actress, 46, was radiant and relaxed during a lovey-dovey stroll with her fiancé Olivier Martinez in Paris. Wearing a blue navy coat and leather pants, Berry and her Frenchman beau, also 46, walked through the city’s Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighborhood — taking in such tourist sites as the local church.

It’s just what the couple of about two years need right now, after kicking off the extended holiday season on a less-than-cheery note. The Cloud Atlas actress’ ex, model Gabriel Aubry, got into a violent Thanksgiving day brawl with former boxer Martinez at Berry’s L.A. home — with both men sustaining noticeable injuries in a fight regarding Nahla, Berry and Aubry’s 4-year-old daughter.

And Paris holds a special place in Berry’s heart: At the center of her custody dispute with Calvin Klein model Aubry, 36, was her desire to move Nahla to France full-time — a request recently denied by a judge. In the wake of the Thanksgiving Day fight, both Berry and Aubry went back to court before quickly settling.

“Halle and Gabriel came to an agreement because they don’t want her to [Nahla] to be negatively affected,” a source told Us.

Nahla is reportedly in Los Angeles with her father for the holiday.

[From Us Weekly]

Yeah, how do we know for sure that Gabriel Aubry came into (and out of) the custodial negotiations in a strong position? Because he was in LA with Nahla for Christmas and Halle and Olivier were in Paris, coordinating their outfits. Well, I hope Nahla had a quiet, peaceful and happy Christmas after her clusterf—k of a Thanksgiving. And I hope Halle and Olivier figure out a way to co-exist with Halle’s baby-daddy without another drama explosion in a few months.

Also, what is with Olivier’s mom jeans? He’s been wearing those horrible things for months!! YIKES.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Before Halle Berry got with rage-monster Olivier Martinez, she was with Gabriel Aubry. Halle and Gabe were together for something like four or five years. Most people considered Gabriel a low-key, drama-free dude for Halle, considering she had just gotten out of her second failed marriage to Eric Benet. Eric and Halle were married in 2001 (they had been together a few years before that), and they split up in 2003 and divorced in 2005. Eric had a daughter, India, and Halle was reportedly very close to her step-daughter. But once Halle and Eric split up, you never heard anything about Halle and India spending time together, nor did you hear anything but negative drama coming from Halle regarding Eric. According to Halle, Eric was a terrible cheater and a sex addict and she tried to work through it with him but ultimately she couldn’t deal with it. In retrospect… well, I would like to hear Eric’s side of things, let’s just say that.

Anyway, Eric has been consistently quiet about Halle for years now. He’s remarried and the father of a 1-year-old daughter in addition to his 21-year-old daughter India. And In Touch Weekly just got him to comment on the Halle situation:

Following a Thanksgiving Day brawl between her fiancé, Olivier Martinez, and ex Gabriel Aubry, Halle Berry’s ex-husband Eric Benét is now opening up about the altercation.

“I am hoping for the best,” he tells In Touch exclusively. “Praying for the best for Nahla.”

Eric was married to Halle from 2001 to 2005, before 4-year-old Nahla was even born, but he’s clearly still concerned for the child following the dispute.

On Nov. 22, Gabriel dropped off his and Halle’s daughter, Nahla, to Halle’s Hollywood Hills home — which she has since put up for sale — when he got into a fistfight with Olivier.

Even though Olivier was the one who suffered a black eye and bruises to the face, he was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor battery.

The 46-year-old actress immediately filed and was granted a temporary emergency protective order against Gabriel, which prevented him from coming within 100 yards of Halle, Olivier and Nahla. Gabriel followed suit and obtained a restraining order against Olivier.

The situation has since been resolved, but those close to Halle are clearly worried about the well-being of little Nahla. So has Eric’s 21-year-old daughter, India, reached out to stepmom Halle since the Turkey Day incident?

“No, she doesn’t have a relationship with Halle,” Eric admits to In Touch. “That kind of ended.”

[From In Touch Weekly]

Interesting. I doubt Eric has even met Nahla, but his prayers for Nahla seem… loaded with innuendo. It’s also interesting to hear a hard confirmation that Halle doesn’t have a relationship with her former step-daughter. I remember how Halle talked up that relationship too, she was all about being a step-mom. I wish Eric had more to say about all of this, don’t you?

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

Here are some new photos of Halley Berry picking Nahla up from school and then taking her to a friend’s house for what looks like some kind of kids’ party. I feel like we’re probably going to be seeing more and more “happy” photo ops with Nahla from both Halle and Gabriel. That’s their MO – whenever there’s some huge custodial controversy, both Halle and Gabe make sure to step out with Nahla, trying to out-do each other by looking like the best parent.

Following Gabriel’s withdrawal of any criminal complaint and restraining order against Olivier Martinez, Olivier has asked the LAPD to drop the charges against Gabriel too – because, remember, Olivier put Gabe under a “citizen’s arrest” and Gabriel was charged with battery solely on Olivier’s say-so.

Olivier Martinez has informed the LAPD that he is no longer interested in pursuing criminal charges against Gabriel Aubry, stemming from a brutal Thanksgiving brawl between the two men that ended in the Canadian-born model suffering horrific injuries, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

“Olivier informed the LAPD and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office that he was no longer interested in pursuing criminal charges against Aubry,” a source close to the situation tells RadarOnline.com exclusively.

“The LAPD had turned the case over to the Attorney’s Office to determine if any charges should be filed. However, since the complaining witness has subsequently indicated he doesn’t want to proceed, it is likely the case is dead on arrival.

“Aubry and Berry worked out a confidential settlement last week that included specific language about how none of the parties — Halle, Gabe or Olivier — would pursue criminal charges against the another. All sides managed to agree to satisfactory terms with the focus being on ending the mayhem for the sake of Halle and Gabriel’s daughter Nahla,” the source says.

[From Radar]

Before Halle and Gabe’s lawyers even reached the settlement last Thursday, sources were already saying that the DA would likely not pursue the charges against Gabriel, probably because Gabe looked like he had his ass handed to him and Olivier’s only injuries were on his hands, where his fists pummeled Gabriel. So, basically, Olivier is just formalizing the agreement that the lawyers worked out, but it doesn’t amount to much and I doubt everyone is going to stay in their separate corners. The Chicago Sun-Times has some interesting insider information about how there’s still a lot of anger and hatred in this group:

It may only be all about appearances, but it sounds like the trio of people involved in the fight over custody issues involving Halle Berry’s 4-year-old daughter Nahla finally have realized they need to, uh, act like adults.

Sources close to both the Oscar winner, her estranged lover Gabriel Aubry — Nahla’s father — and Berry’s fiancé, Olivier Martinez, say they all understand a cooling-off period is desperately needed.

“Halle and Olivier still despise Gabriel, and he feels the same about them. But by [Aubry] withdrawing his restraining order against Martinez [who recently, famously beat him up], everyone hopes things will calm down a bit,” said a Berry buddy Monday.

Apparently, all involved realize this whole battle not only could continue to be damaging to young Nahla’s psyche, but also to Berry’s once-pristine public image, and it paints both Martinez and Aubry in a bad light.

“They just need to get this settled — once and for all,” said a source close to Aubry. “They all need to compromise a bit and make a deal and stick to it.”

[From the Chicago Sun-Times]

I’m sure the Team Berry people will yell at me for this, but I really don’t think Halle gives a crap about Nahla’s psyche or what all of this controversy and custodial bickering is doing to Nahla. I really do think that Halle has just gotten it into her head that Nahla is “hers” and that she (Halle) deserves full-custody and Halle can’t move beyond that. But I do think Halle realized that she had to take a step back because this neverending drama has affected her image and her reputation. She still has friends in Hollywood – but they won’t stay her friends if she continues down this scorched-earth path of throwing everything at Gabriel.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Here are some new photos of Gabriel Aubry reunited with Nahla on Friday in LA. On Thursday, Gabe and Halle Berry’s lawyers worked through some kind of legal arrangement that is (hopefully) all-encompassing, so it’s a good sign that Gabriel was out with his daughter the very next day. I’m also including some photos of Nahla and Halle the day before. Nahla looks comfortable with both of her parents, for what it’s worth. As Radar mentioned shortly after the lawyers’ agreement was made, part of the deal seems to be that Gabriel and Olivier both drop all of their charges and restraining orders and everybody moves to their own separate corners. TMZ confirmed the news too:

It’s pretty remarkable, but a week after nuclear war at Halle Berry’s house which left Gabriel Aubry’s face a bloody mess, they have figured out a path to peace … and the clearest evidence is that Gabriel’s lawyer just went to court and dropped his restraining order against Olivier Martinez.

It happened just a few minutes ago. Shawn Holley, Gabriel’s lawyer, told the judge her client no longer needed to keep Olivier away from him.

As TMZ first reported … the parties struck an agreement Thursday to end their mega-dispute, which revolves around 4-year-old Nahla.

The remaining issue … Olivier made a citizen’s arrest after the fight and the case is going to the L.A. City Attorney for review. We’re told it’s “highly unlikely” Gabriel will be prosecuted. If Halle can do it, maybe there’s hope for Middle East peace.

[From TMZ]

Radar chimed in too, with one source saying: “Gabe has agreed to drop legal proceedings for the temporary restraining order against Olivier to be made permanent…Gabe suffered horrific injuries from the fight, but as part of the settlement he reached with Halle on Thursday he agreed to drop the bid for the permanent restraining order. Gabe feels that there are enough layers of protection in the settlement agreement that will protect him and Nahla in the future.”

At the end of the day, now that all of this is all over (for now, until something else horrible happens around Christmas), I have to say… I think Gabriel definitely came out of this looking better, but I don’t think he was completely blameless. If everything went down the way Gabe claimed, I don’t really think he would have dropped the restraining order and walked away without getting more of his side out there, pushing for an even better deal. Of course, we still don’t really know what the deal is. I imagine more will come out about it in the coming weeks, and we’ll have a better idea of who had the upper hand in the negotiations.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Pacific Coast News.