Nahla Ariela Aubry, 16
Berry and then-boyfriend Aubry welcomed their daughter Nahla Ariela Aubry in Los Angeles on March 16, 2008. One day later, Aubry’s sister Eugenie told PEOPLE, “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a new baby in the family. It’s very exciting.”
When Nahla was 2, Berry had a scary moment with her young daughter: She briefly lost her in a department store. In an interview with PEOPLE, the mom of two reflected on the terrifying experience. “It was one of the worst moments of my life,” she recalled. “I was looking at a price tag, and she was there, and then all of a sudden she wasn’t.”
Berry remembered springing into action. “It’s just sheer terror when your child is gone,” she said. “And I’m like, ‘Awww! Stop! Shut the doors!’ I’m like, ‘Everybody stop! My kid’s gone.’ They shut the doors.”
Thankfully, the toddler hadn’t gotten far. Berry explained, “There she was, a foot away from me, under the turnstile. That’s when your heart stops as a mom.”
As Nahla has grown, Berry has been very selective with what she shares about her teenage daughter on social media. “I’ve fought really hard to protect their privacy, and I just want them to have their life and have it be theirs,” Berry told Today in 2019.
“I just don’t want to plaster them all over the internet. That just doesn’t feel right for me,” she added. “They’re gonna do that soon enough. That’s gonna be their life when they grow up, and they will choose when that starts.”
Still, Berry shares the occasional photo of her daughter, particularly on Nahla’s birthdays.
“One of the greatest gifts the universe has given me is my daughter, Nahla. She is the sun that never fades and the moon that never wanes!” Berry wrote on Instagram for her daughter’s 15th birthday in 2023.
Maceo-Robert Martinez, 10
Berry welcomed her second child — and first with ex-husband Martinez— Maceo-Robert Martinez on Oct. 5, 2013. Shortly after Maceo’s arrival, a source close to the baby’s father told PEOPLE the former couple had “decided on a name that’s great in both the U.S. and France.” (Martinez is a César Award-winning actor from France.)
Like with his older sister, Berry has also been cautious about what she shares of her son with the media and fans. In 2020, however, the Monster’s Ball actress opened up about quarantining at home with her kids during the COVID-19 pandemic, calling home-schooling a 6-year-old a “nightmare.”
She also shared a video of a young Maceo taking a walk in her pumps on Instagram. While some commenters were quick to criticize her for letting her son wear heels, Berry wanted no part of the negativity. “🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 harmless fun. Tryna survive right now. You feel me?” she replied to one user.
In another response, the mom of two wrote, “It’s tight on these kids right now. Let’s have a laugh and some compassion yawl !”
Though Berry and Martinez split in 2016, Maceo has been supportive of his mother’s current relationship with her boyfriend Van Hunt.
“I really believe I’ve found my person. My son Maceo, on his own, did this little commitment ceremony for us in the back seat of the car. I think he finally sees me happy, and it’s infectious. It was his way of saying, ‘This is good. This makes me happy,’ ” she told AARP The Magazine in 2021.
Berry recalled “tearing up” during the moment and said Hunt was also “fighting back tears.”
She continued, “As a mom living this modern, blended family, all I care about is that my kids are okay with my decisions.”