Halle Berry Drops Out of Broadway Play Due to 'Custody Issues'

Popeater: Halle was scheduled to make her Broadway debut in September, but Halle Berry has just dropped out of a highly anticipated play. In a statement, the producers of 'The Mountaintop' attribute the cast change to their former star's "custody issues."
The New York Times reports that Samuel L. Jackson is still on board to portray Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The drama -- award-winning playwright Katori Hall's imagined account of the night before Dr. King's assassination -- would have seen Berry portray a maid at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, where King and his colleagues were preparing for a demonstration before King was shot on the balcony outside his room.
Producers said Berry will "not be appearing in the role due to child-custody issues."
The Oscar winner has been in a long, at times contentious custody battle with her ex-partner, French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, the father of their 3-year-old daughter, Nahla. The couple split in April 2010; Berry has been dating actor Olivier Martinez since last fall.
Read more from popeater