Halle Berry feels “taken advantage of” by the court-ordered child support payments she must send her ex every month. The actor explained that she pays Gabriel Aubry, who Berry was in a relationship with from 2005 to 2010, $16,000 a month to help support daughter, Nahla, 12.
She dropped the hot take about “outdated” child support on Instagram after posting the quote, “Women don’t owe you sh*t.” The comments were spicy as well and resulted in a conversation about gender roles with varying opinions voiced about the current state of child support guidelines.
Halle Berry expressed her frustration about funding her 44-year-old ex’s “lifestyle” through child support payments.
Although she never mentioned Aubry by name, the X-Men actor alluded to the Canadian model and the payments he still receives from her.
She put it bluntly, “it takes great strength eryday to pay it. and BTW it’s wrong and it’s extortion !”
Berry, who is also mom to 7-year-old Maceo with her ex-husband Olivier Martinez, offered more of her thoughts writing, “i’ve been paying it for a decade now. i feel if a woman or man is having to pay support that is way more than the reasonable needs to help SUPPORT the child, i think that is wrong !”
She continued, “i understand some parents (man or woman) may need help, but i also feel in these modern times both men and women have the responsibility to financially take care of their children and work hard and make every effort to do so.”
In Berry’s opinion, she believes that the support payments are abused in some circumstances. “the way many laws are set up, people are allowed to USE children in order to be awarded money to live a lifestyle that not only did they not earn, but that is way above and beyond the child’s reasonable needs and that is ‘THE WRONG’ and where i see the abuse,” she continued on Instagram.
Berry called child support guidelines “outdated,” asserting they “no longer reflect the modern world.” She added, “i can say i’m living it everyday and i can tell you it’s hard. i do totally understand the feelings of those men who feel they are and have been taken advantage of by the system.”
As E! News reported at the time, the court decision in 2014 was in part based on the exes respective salaries. In the first nine months of 2012, Berry earned about $4.7 million, while Aubry’s income amounted to $192,921 from October 2011 to October 2012.
In addition to the payments to Aubry, Berry also pays for Nahla’s private school tuition.
Apparently, Berry is in the mood to tell it like it is when it comes to men because just two weeks ago she spoke to Robin Wright at a Hollywood Foreign Press Association panel about using her personal experiences to educate her Maceo about sexist stereotypes.
“I have a 7-year-old son, and I have realized what my job is in raising him,” she said. “If we want to have a future that’s different, that is where it starts.”
RELATED: Halle Berry On Teaching Her 7-Year-Old Son To Challenge Gender Stereotypes
She explained that at just 5-years-old, her son was being “taught to feel like he’s superior, at 5, than girls are.”
“I’ve had to really break that down for him and give him a new perspective, and challenge those thoughts and ask him to identify where that comes from, and if he believes that or not and challenge what he’s subconsciously getting from somewhere,” Berry shared. “I can tell that because we’re having those conversations he is going to grow as a deep thinker on the subject. He’s going to be determined not to just accept it. I keep challenging him all the time, like ‘Well, why is that a ‘girl color?'”
The Bruised director is currently dating musician Van Hunt. While Berry is not exactly a very private celebrity, she does keep a much lower profile than most. It’s refreshing to hear her takes on issues that are hotly contested today.
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