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The Jeremy Renner-Sonni Pacheco custody battle is getting out of hand

Jeremy Renner denies his ex-wife's allegations that he tried to kill her.
(Richard Shotwell / Associated Press)
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Jeremy Renner is in the middle of a very heated and messy custody battle.

The Oscar-nominated actor and Sonni Pacheco, the ex-wife with whom he shares a 6-year-old daughter, have been trading accusations via the court system.

Last month, Pacheco, a Canadian model and actress, asked in Los Angeles County Superior Court for sole custody of daughter Ava with monitored visits for Renner. In court documents obtained by The Times, the 28-year-old expressed concern over what she called Renner‘s “ongoing substance abuse,” citing alcohol and drugs.

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Pacheco also alleges that Renner threatened to kill her in 2015 while he was drunk at a club and high on cocaine, later complaining that “he could not deal with [Sonni] anymore” and “just wanted to be gone.” The report also claims he once put a gun in his mouth, threatened to kill himself and recklessly fired a gun into his home’s ceiling while Ava was asleep in her bedroom.

According to the documents, a nanny claimed that Renner was often intoxicated and once left a bag of cocaine on a bathroom counter that Ava could reach.

But in court documents filed Monday, Renner denied the drug allegations, according to TMZ, noting that he’d submitted to spontaneous drug testing for three months to counter the accusations. “The Avengers” actor stated that his ex-wife made false claims because she wanted money and was upset that their relationship had ended, the outlet said.

Renner — who is known for protecting his privacy — also accused Pacheco of sending nude photos of him to their custody evaluator to humiliate him, according to TMZ, and questioned whether an obsession with sex made her an unfit mother.

Reps for Renner did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Tuesday, but one told TMZ, “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. It’s important to note the dramatizations made in Sonni’s declaration are a one-sided account made with a specific goal in mind.”

Pacheco filed for divorce from Renner in December 2014, less than a year after they were married in a secret ceremony. The following year, Superior Court Judge Michael Whitaker approved the couple’s joint custody of Ava, who was then 2. The settlement also called for Renner to pay Pacheco $13,000 monthly for child support.

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Part of their agreement at the time was that neither Renner nor Pacheco would make derogatory comments about each other in front of their daughter and that they would work with a therapist to build a parenting plan.

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