Showbiz

Halle Berry drops out of Broadway debut

Published Sunday, Apr 17 2011, 20:05 BST | By Tom Ayres | Add comment

Halle Berry at the 13th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards

Halle Berry has been forced to drop out of her Broadway debut due to unforeseen 'child-custody issues'.

Berry had been scheduled to perform in a new Broadway adaptation of Katori Hall's play The Mountaintop this September, but the producers have now released a statement confirming her departure.

"Ms Berry would not be appearing in the role due to child-custody issues," the New York Times quotes the statement as saying.

Despite Berry's exit from the production, Iron Man 2 star Samuel L. Jackson is still on board to play the lead role of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Berry was to have portrayed the character Camae, a maid working at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis in Hall's imagined account of the night before King's assassination.

The actress is currently embroiled in a custody battle with ex-partner Gabriel Aubry over their 3-year-old daughter Nahla.

The Mountaintop is still scheduled to begin previews on September 22 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, following which it will officially open to the public on October 13.