Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry is facing severe legal accusations from her former partner, Olivier Martinez, who has filed for sole custody of their 12-year-old son, Maceo, alongside a restraining order. Court documents obtained by media outlets allege that the actress physically abused the child during a disputed incident late last year, escalating a long-running and contentious co-parenting relationship between the celebrity exes.
According to the filings, Martinez alleges that Berry physically abused their son by jumping on him and choking him during an incident on September 26. The legal filing has prompted the French actor to seek immediate judicial intervention to protect both himself and the preteen boy from the actress, requesting that Berry be ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from them.
The explosive court documents paint a picture of ongoing friction and escalating disputes involving Berry, Martinez, and their son over the past several years. Among the most serious claims detailed by Martinez is an assertion that Berry repeatedly subjected the boy to physical holds reminiscent of mixed martial arts training. "Throughout the last year-and-a-half, Ms. Berry has wrestled Maceo to the ground and forced him to ‘tap out,’" Martinez alleged in the documents.
Furthermore, the filings claim that Berry previously grabbed their son’s neck from behind while he was unaware, forcing him into compliance or submission. While Martinez states that Berry frequently downplayed these actions as harmless jokes or playfulness, he maintains that their son deeply disliked the behavior and found it distressing. The tension reportedly culminated in the alleged September incident, which Martinez believes may have deeply traumatized the child. According to the documents, Maceo no longer wishes to spend time at his mother’s residence, with the boy allegedly telling his father that he intended to retaliate physically if the behavior continued.
In addition to the physical allegations, Martinez’s court filing brings forward claims of emotional and mental distress stemming from what he characterizes as racially charged statements made by Berry to their son. The documents allege that in 2023, during disputes regarding financial support, Berry told Maceo that his father was "a white b**ch trying to rob a black woman." The actress then allegedly asked the young boy, "How do you feel about that as a black man?" Martinez further claimed that Berry caused significant emotional distress to the child by frequently threatening to have him deported to France.
As part of the legal filing, Martinez is seeking strict protective measures. Alongside sole custody and a stay-away order, he has requested that Berry be mandated to complete a 52-week batterer intervention program. He is also asking the court to enforce absolute sobriety during any visitation or custody periods involving Maceo. The proposed restrictions include mandatory testing utilizing specialized alcohol-monitoring technology before, during, and after visits, alongside any other evaluations deemed necessary by the court to ensure the child’s safety.
Representatives for Berry were contacted for comment regarding the allegations but had not responded at the time of the filings. The latest legal maneuver represents a dramatic worsening of relations between the former couple, whose relationship history spans well over a decade.
Berry and Martinez first crossed paths on the set of the film Dark Tide, which was shot on location in South Africa in 2010. Media outlets frequently referred to Martinez as the "French Brad Pitt" as romance blossomed between the co-stars. The couple married in a ceremony in France in 2013, the same year they welcomed their son, Maceo Robert. However, the marital union was short-lived, with the pair announcing their separation after three years of marriage in 2015. Their formal divorce proceedings dragged on for years before finally being resolved in 2023, an outcome that initially established joint custody and required Berry to provide child support payments to her ex-husband.
The resolution of their divorce, however, did not put an end to their courtroom battles. In 2024, Berry initiated legal action against Martinez, asserting that he was attempting to shirk his responsibilities regarding court-mandated co-parenting therapy sessions and demanding that a judge compel his participation. Although a judge ultimately sided with the actress in October, court notes indicated that Martinez had already complied with her requests by the time the matter was heard.
During that same legal skirmish, documents from US Weekly revealed that Berry claimed she had expended upwards of $200,000 in legal expenditures, which included an $80,000 voluntary contribution toward Martinez’s own legal bills. At the time, Berry argued that the actor was essentially utilizing her child support disbursements to sustain his personal finances.
Simultaneously, Berry had previously pursued sole custody of Maceo by arguing that the boy was experiencing significant academic struggles and was falling multiple grade levels behind his peers. Highlighting diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and mild dyslexia, Berry contended in court filings that Martinez was either entirely oblivious to the boy’s educational hurdles or willfully disregarded them, which she argued rendered him an unsuitable custodian.
Martinez’s history with high-profile custody and relationship disputes also includes an infamous physical altercation with Gabriel Aubry, the Canadian model with whom Berry shares her older daughter, Nahla. Martinez began romantic involvement with Berry during the same year that her relationship with Aubry came to an end. The resulting tension erupted into mainstream news headlines in November 2012 when a violent physical confrontation occurred at Berry’s Los Angeles home as Aubry dropped off their daughter for the Thanksgiving holiday.
The verbal disagreement between Martinez and Aubry quickly escalated into a violent brawl, with Aubry subsequently alleging that the action star threatened to take his life. Both men sustained significant injuries that required immediate hospital treatment. In the aftermath of the Thanksgiving incident, Aubry was arrested by local law enforcement and subjected to a protective restraining order.
Despite the ongoing turmoil surrounding her past relationships, Berry’s personal life has also seen major milestones. Earlier this year, the actress announced her engagement to Grammy-winning recording artist Van Hunt following a five-year relationship. As the latest custody filings move through the judicial system, the legal battle between Berry and Martinez over the care and well-being of their son continues to unfold in the courts.
