Halle Berry Fires Back at Olivier Martinez's Custody Claims

Halle Berry is fighting back in court. TMZ reports she filed a lengthy response to Olivier Martinez's petition to change their custody agreement. Martinez wanted temporary sole custody with Berry getting only visitation. He got a modified version of what he wanted.

Martinez claimed Berry put their 13-year-old son Maceo in a headlock while he was playing a VR game. Berry's version is different. She says she went in to tell Maceo it was time to stop, then sat in the bathroom and started recording him on her phone. Maceo noticed, grabbed the phone, and the two began what she calls "playfully roughhousing."

Berry says she never placed her hands around his neck, never choked him, and never yelled "Who is dominant now?" as Martinez alleged. She admits things escalated. Her boyfriend Van Hunt came upstairs. She tried to take Maceo's headset off, he shoved her again, and Hunt got between them. Maceo threatened to leave and go back to Olivier. Berry says she texted Martinez, asking him to enforce boundaries. When Maceo left, she says there were no marks on his body or neck.

The response also attacks Martinez's parenting. Berry says he's not capable of "child-centered guidance," that he gave Maceo authority to make medical decisions for himself, and that Maceo has behavioral and neurodivergent issues that require professional help but Martinez resists, citing previous legal fights where the family court agreed with her.

As for Martinez's claim that Berry made racially charged comments to Maceo, their other child Nahla Aubry submitted a declaration saying she never heard such comments, calling the claim "completely inconsistent with the mom I know."

Berry says flatly, "I would never hurt our child." She also says she is a domestic violence victim but does not name the perpetrator. She has never publicly identified who abused her, only that it was an ex. The filing positions her not as an aggressor but as someone who has been on the other side of violence, an interesting strategic choice in a he-said-she-said custody battle where the allegation is physical harm to a child.

"I would never hurt our child."

TMZ reports the case continues.

• custody
• domestic violence
• Halle Berry
• Maceo
• Olivier Martinez
• TMZ