Jeremy Renner says the novel coronavirus has landed him in an unexpected financial tight spot—and as a result, he has asked a Los Angeles judge to lower his child support payments.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ and Us Weekly, the Marvel actor has asked to lower payments to his ex-wife, Sonni Pacheco, for their daughter, Ava, from $30,000 per month, to something that more closely matches her “reasonable needs”—which he estimates amount to $11,201 per month.
“I had planned for my income to be substantially lower this year, due to the fact that the Avengers film series has now finished production and been released,” Us Weekly quotes from the court docs. “I did have some work lined up; however, with the advent of the coronavirus, the film and television industry has gone on indefinite hiatus, and it is likely that most productions will not resume again prior to the end of the year. As such, the projects that I had previously lined up to film this year are likely cancelled or postponed.”
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Pacheco first filed for divorce from Renner last September, as well as sole custody of their daughter, Ava, who is six years old. She also requested that Renner’s visits with his daughter be monitored. Renner soon countered with a similar request for sole custody and supervised visitation. That battle continues to this day.
Pacheco alleged last October that Renner threatened to kill her while high on cocaine, and that their nanny once overheard Renner vowing to kill her and then himself because “it was better that Ava had no parents than to have (Pacheco) as a mother.” Pacheco also said that on a separate occasion, Renner put a gun in his mouth before firing into the ceiling as their daughter slept in her room.
Renner’s rep denied the claims at the time with a statement: “The well-being of his daughter Ava has always been and continues to be the primary focus for Jeremy. This is a matter for the court to decide.”
In his lawsuit, Renner accuses Pacheco of using their daughter’s child support payments as “her own ‘slush fund,’” both to support her lifestyle and to stage a “custody war” against him in court, according to Us Weekly. TMZ notes that Renner is also requesting that his business managers control the funds in Ava’s account.
A representative for Pacheco did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
