WEEK IN REVIEW: Halle Flies Solo Again

By Stephen M. Silverman

Originally posted Friday April 30, 2004 09:00 AM EDT

Photo by: Sara De Boer / Retna

BERRY UNMARRIED: Halle Berry filed for divorce from her husband of three years, R&B singer Eric Benet, Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Berry, 37, was previously married to pro ballplayer David Justice, but the relationship ended in 1996. The instability in her relationship with Benet, also 37, from whom she separated last October, has been well-documented, and at one point her husband was reportedly treated for a sex addiction.

DOWNEY SINGLE: Robert Downey Jr. and his estranged wife, actress-model Deborah Falconer, officially ended their 12-year marriage. The two, both 39, have been separated for eight years, ever since the start of Downey's drug problems. The two had married after a 42-day courtship in 1992, the same year he delivered his Oscar-nominated role in Chaplin. "This is more or less just a formality," publicist Alan Nierob told Reuters. Downey is engaged to producer Susan Levin, whom he met on the set of the 2003 film Gothika.

KOBE'S CASE: Kobe Bryant, 26, had just enough time to make his Wednesday night game against the Houston Rockets, having left the Eagle, Colo., courtroom where he is being tried on sexual assault charges court at 4:50 p.m., PEOPLE reported. But the L.A. Lakers star is due back May 10 for his arraignment – where he will enter his plea – and two additional days of hearings on matters of suppression and rape shield laws.

DODI'S DAD: Mohamed Al Fayed, the father of Princess Diana's lover Dodi Fayed, has sued CBS for invasion of privacy and emotional distress over last week's 48 Hours Investigates, which featured a photo of Diana as she lay dying after the 1997 Paris car crash that also claimed Dodi's life. Al Fayed's lawyer Fred Gaines told Reuters that Al Fayed's legal action might be extended to include a defamation charge against the network.

LUKEWARM DIDDY: The highly anticipated Broadway acting debut of Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs in the revival of Lorraine Hansberry's once-groundbreaking Raisin in the Sun was received with a split decision by the critics: two good notices (in the tabloids) and two fairly humiliating notices (in the broadsheets). Loudest was The New York Times's Ben Brantley, who said Combs's lack of acting chops throws the production dangerously off-balance. The Times does, however, praise Combs's costars Audra McDonald and Phylicia Rashad.