Jeremy Renner and his ex-wife, Canadian model Sonni Pacheco, have been embroiled in a bitter custody battle over their six-year-old daughter, Ava Berlin Renner, for about five years now. Until now, the former couple have been sharing joint custody of Ava. However things took a turn for the worse late last year when the Avengers star allegedly began making thinly-veiled physical threats against Pacheco.
According to legal documents obtained by TMZ, Pacheco, 28, is now requesting full custody of their daughter with with monitored visitation. She claims that back in November of 2018, Renner was out at a club “high on coke and booze” and telling people that he could not deal with her anymore and that he “just wanted her gone.” Renner is also accused of putting a gun in his mouth and threatening to kill himself, and then firing the gun into the ceiling while Ava was asleep in her bedroom:
Sonni claims Jeremy has a history of substance abuse, verbal and emotional abuse. The docs claim Jeremy repeatedly has been under the influence when he had physical custody of Ava. According to the docs, Jeremy once left coke on a bathroom counter which was reachable by Ava.
Sadly, it sounds as if this latest alleged incident could be the latest in a pattern of troubling behavior, which has been documented in various legal documents and saved text message conversations since the couple split. Pacheco also claims in at least one isolated instance, a nanny overheard Renner say that he was going to kill Pacheco and then himself because “it was better that Ava had no parents than to have [Sonni] as a mother.”
March 28, 2013
Ava Berlin Renner was born to parents Jeremy Renner and Sonni Pacheco.
January 13, 2014
Renner and Pacheco were married
November 2014
The couple reportedly split after 10 months of marriage.
Amid news of their impending divorce, text message conversations show that Renner allegedly refused to turn over Pacheco’s passport, birth certificate, and social security card, in an apparent attempt at preventing her from taking their daughter to Canada to visit family.
Pacheco threatened to file a police report if Renner would not return her belongings, to which he allegedly responded: “I told you the terms in which I can help you.” In another message, he allegedly wrote: “I know how to defend myself. You drew first blood.”
December 30, 2014
Pacheco officially filed for divorce from Renner, citing irreconcilable differences.
September 10, 2019
Pacheco filed for sole custody of their daughter, seeking to change their previous agreement in which they had shared joint custody. It was not known at the time was triggered the action–although it was reported that Pacheco was concerned about her ex’s gun collection.
October 14, 2019
After the legal docs surfaced as to the motivation for Pacheco’s decision, Renner has come forward to insist that he does not abuse drugs or alcohol and even claims that he submitted to random drug testing for three months to shoot down his ex’s allegations. He also says that he hired a mental health specialist to monitor his visits to prove he is a sober and a capable parent.
“The well-being of his daughter Ava has always been and continues to be the primary focus for Jeremy,” a rep said in a statement. “This is a matter for the court to decide. It’s important to note the dramatizations made in Sonni’s declaration are a one-sided account made with a specific goal in mind.”