Earlier this week, we learned that Sonni Pacheco has suddenly filed for sole custody of her daughter Ava Berlin. Ava Berlin’s father is Jeremy Renner, and for several years, Renner and Pacheco had one of the messiest divorces and custody battles out there. Even after they finalized joint custody and child support, they were still fighting in court about sh-t like “is Renner going to pay for Ava’s nursery school.” Personally, I thought they both seemed like petty a–holes, but I was more on Sonni’s side – her filings made more sense to me, like “yes, Renner SHOULD pay for Ava’s education completely” and “no, Ava should not be raised in a house where there are loose guns.” Well, now Jeremy has seen Sonni’s sole custody filing and responded in kind:
Jeremy Renner is now in an all-out custody war with his ex-wife … claiming that if anyone should be stripped of custody of their daughter … it’s her!!! The actor filed new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, requesting sole legal and physical custody of their 6-year-old daughter, Ava. He also wants his ex-wife, Sonni Pacheco, to be limited to only monitored visitation rights.
TMZ broke the story … Sonni recently filed nearly identical legal docs, claiming that she should be the one to get custody. Both Sonni and Jeremy are asking the court to change their previous agreement, which gave them joint custody. It’s unclear what triggered her to make that move, but Sonni and Jeremy have had a tumultuous history.
You’ll recall, in the past Sonni claimed Jeremy’s gun collection put Ava at risk … particularly because one of the weapons was out in the open, behind a bar. Jeremy called BS … claiming his guns were always under lock and key. This ongoing feud sounds like it could be going on a for a while.
The suddenness of Sonni’s filing still makes me think that something in particular happened recently. Like, I just doubt that Sonni woke up one day and decided to revive this particularly nasty custody battle. Jeremy’s similar filing days later makes me think that he’s actively trying to make this an even bigger mess. I don’t know. Until we find out the preceding event to all of these filings, I’ll avoid theorizing.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
He just seems so messy all around (they both do), I don’t understand a single thing about him hooking up with someone so young as Sonny in the first place, it’s just very immature. No idea what’s going on but I feel sorry for the kid, it’s like Bertolt Brechts “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” with two parents fighting over their kid and who’s right all the time…
Something about him gives me the creeps. She is entitled to child support, I fully believe in child support, but if he’s already paying $15k a month, I really really hope this isn’t about money. I guess we’ll see what their arguments are soon enough and then I can decide which side I’m on. As of now, I’m only Team Ava and I hope she’s protected from this mess.
@ Jennifer : Re : “he’s already paying $15K a month”. That seems like a lot of money but child support is based on the parent’s income. So if Renner makes millions per year (which I think he does), then he should pay a lot of child support in proportion to that.
Yes I totally agree. I was just saying I hope it’s not her motivation for sole custody, and that there is a valid reason she wants sole custody. Which there very well may be, we just haven’t heard what it is, apart from the guns (but he could easily show proof of a gun safe and I doubt a judge would grant sole for one incident, maybe there were others?).
Poor Ava. Her dad seems like a mega misogynist.
Sorry for little Ava.
I dont know what is going on with her parents but what a mess.
That about sums up my feelings too. These two are going to continue to battle for her whole childhood, I bet.
But who got custody of the Cheeze-its?
If I remember the school issue correctly, it wasn’t about whether or not he thought Ava should go to pre-school but whether he should pay for the school on the days Sonni had custody or whether she should pay for those days out of the $13-!5,000 she gets each month to care for Ava. He was already paying for the days on which he had custody.
If I think about it, $15k probably doesn’t go very far in LA. I’m sure the house she rents to stay in the same area as Renner is at least half that. And considering he has Marvel money, he should absolutely be ponying it up for school costs. The whole “you pay on your days” is some petty BS from the parent who has literal millions of dollars. Which makes me think this is more on him than her.
His “Marvel money” is pocket change compared to what he’s made from real estate and flipping houses. But point taken.
This better not be about money on her part though. A filing like that over finances is extremely incendiary and risks the court seeing an attempt at parental alienation. Since we don’t know anything though, I’m taking the wait and see approach.
IIRC the issue wasn’t so much about education ( from his side ) is that she was asking him to pay for childcare on her time. She’s 4. It wasn’t about prep school bills or a scheduled “school” that she attended on a regular schedule. It was about daycare and be didn’t feel like be should be responsible for that particular bill.
And IIRC there’s a stipulation in the financial agreement that whatever “extra” income Renner makes (over his estimated earnings) that surplus goes into Ava’s trust. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he also covers the housing in addition to the child support (the man does own multiple properties, right?). This whole thing is gearing up to be a huge mess, I hope Ava is well-protected from the chaos.
The monthly payments are nothing, he also pays her lump sum based on that year’s income. There is nothing to suggest that her accusations about child care cost were legitimate, it wasn’t mentioned when that was settled. She claimed he wasn’t paying school fees and he was 50k behind in child support. The judge order him to pay her 16k. I always suspected it was really an accounting squabble.
She’s 6, so she is in elementary school. That means around $40k per year, assuming they got her into the top school.
dc When Sonni went to court to demand he pay for school the child was 3. I believe educational costs were all covered in the settlement, so this was something extra. The press all picked it up as though he was a deadbeat who wasn’t prepared to pay for his daughter’s education. The reality was that he had aready paid her several hundred thousand dollars that year. I suspect that Sonni hates her ex and wants to punish him in public, but she is constrained by a non-disclosure agreement and the only way she can speak of it is through a child custody or child support complaint. I also suspect that IF Renner really goes ahead with the is counter claim for sole custody it will be based on the fact that she is harassing him and making it impossible to to work together as parents. I have no idea if that would be true, but I could see that as a tactic for him based on all the court cases so far. I guess it all depends on who has the receipts.
I don’t think it is petty of him not to want to pay for childcare on her days. That’s pretty standard. Yes, he could easily pay, but so could she since she already gets plenty of child support.
But this response filing doesn’t surprise me.
I would have thought payment for schooling would have been worked out in the divorce agreement. When I divorced my youngest was still in college and my ex was expected to pay half the costs until what should have been her graduation. She took off a semester and I was expected to foot the bill for that semester. So seems strange to me that would not have been worked out.
His hands are GROSS.
That’s the kind of finger nails you get from excessive drinking.
His nails appear to be clubbed very badly, which can indicate several very serious health issues. It’s possible to have idiopathic nail clubbing, but if they haven’t always been that way he should get that addressed, yikes.
Really?? I just thought it was an overly zealous manicurist and his basic nail shape. I like to study hands for some reason and I’ve never heard that. Genuinely curious.
OMG I’ve never known about this, now I’m obsessively Googling and inspecting my fingers. Thanks, guys :O
OMG that’s so ugly.
My fingernails and toenails were very badly clubbed at a time when my Crohn’s disease was particularly aggressive, not because I’m a heavy drinker, or a smoker, as an idiotic nurse in the hospital suggested. I find speculation about any health issues he may have to be pretty gross.
I’m going to have to stick up for the guy ( that I don’t know other than gossip). He seems very hard working with a lot of hustle for side projects, he does very well aside from the Marvel money, seems to have a very large and close knit family and appears to be a doting Dad with his parenting time.
I don’t give a damn about his sexual proclivities as long as it doesn’t impact his daughter and I think it’s telling the only time we hear messy custody or money issues it begins with her filing.
It could be that he is completely unreasonable and the only way she can deal with him is through the courts…or it could be completely the other way.
Yeahhhh I really don’t like him but didn’t someone point out on the article about this that she’s filed for sole custody multiple times and it usually comes down to her wanting more money? And others have pointed out, the preschool thing wasn’t him not wanting to pay at all, but arguing she should pay for the days that Ava was in on her time. My guess is he doesn’t give her anything outside of what’s ordered by the court because it’s a “give an inch, she’ll take a mile” situation.
If it is something else, then good for her for protecting her daughter but she doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to taking him to court.
Last time she demanded sole custody he pretty much waited it out for months until all her demands and accusations were rejected and his original offer to her was accepted. There was a last minute flurry of hardball so maybe this time he is starting with hardball in the hope of avoiding a whole new load of accusations being plastered everywhere. Up to this point Renner has been very careful, regardless of how it has been reported, any real criticism of his ex has come from other people’s depositions, not his and I am glad for his daughter. I guess that is changing, but I really cannot blame him when she has been so determined to push him out of the kid’s life. Whatever is said, I am not going to believe any of it until the judge signs the paperwork.
I’m thinking they are both a hot mess but honestly, she seems more so. Maybe she wants some of that Disney + money?
If she wanted that marvel money, she should have tried it before endgame
I used to think this was some kind of surrogate/beard arrangement. I had no idea they were a real couple. Both of them seem messy but Renner has strong creepy vibes.
I think he should pay the entire cost of Ava’s education, healthcare, or any other basic needs, regardless of who Ava’s staying with. He chose to knock up a much younger woman with an uncertain income and the only way he can guarantee stability for his daughter is by covering the costs himself. He can pay the schools, doctors, daycares, etc., directly if he’s worried about Sonni skimming funds. (Frankly I think he should also buy Sonni a house near his so that Ava will always be in close physical proximity to him and to his family, just in case.)
Maybe Sonni’s a golddigger but Renner’s being a shortsighted miser with regards to his daughter.
Tcbc I am not sure what you are talking about, he is already paying childcare of a least quarter of a million a year and he was always solely responsible for medical care. There has to be a limit at some point, his ex has to be responsible enough to use the money appropriately. Isn’t that the whole point of child support, so that a parent can raise their child without having to go cap in hand for more money and the child can see them as a responsible parent?
Pretty sure he does. Again, from the “school” dispute it was about daycare, not education or any other essential.
It was certainly his story vs hers but she didn’t back up her claims in court.
He also didn’t “knock up “ a much younger woman…. Two consenting adults created a child. Let’s not make her into some kind of victim here.
Even assuming he made the choice to have a child, she then also made that choice. She’s just as responsible for raising her child as he is.
EXACTLY! She is just as much of a parent as he is and should be doing just as much as he is.
But…. what about the Renner app?
Yeah, who gets sole custody of that is the big question?
I still don’t get why so many on here think that Renner potentially having relationships with men means that he absolutely can’t have ever been with a woman as well?
People – pick your procreation partner wisely!!
Divorce and money can bring out the worst in people. I hope calmer heads prevail and the child isn’t in any actual danger.