An intense legal battle between Oscar winner Halle Berry and her ex-husband, French actor Olivier Martinez, over their son reached a high-stakes turning point in Los Angeles family court.
On Thursday, October 1, court records confirmed that a Los Angeles County judge granted Martinez’s request for a temporary restraining order protecting both him and the former couple’s 12-year-old son, Maceo, following severe domestic allegations filed against the 60-year-old actress.
According to initial court filings obtained by TMZ, Martinez alleged that Berry physically assaulted their son on Saturday, September 26, while the pre-teen was playing a virtual reality video game in his bedroom. In the filing, Martinez claimed Berry entered the room in a rage, made derogatory remarks to Maceo, and allegedly put him in a chokehold while shouting, “Who is dominant now?!” Martinez also alleged that Berry made racially charged comments to the child during the incident, threatened to have him deported to France, and referenced Martinez using derogatory slurs. The filing further claimed that Berry texted Martinez the following day, writing: “I feel terrible about what happened last night as I know he does as well.”
In response to the emergency filing, Berry’s legal team issued a swift, unequivocal denial to media outlets, characterizing Martinez’s claims as a baseless attempt to manipulate public opinion and obscure his own legal infractions.
“To say this filing is entirely meritless and deliberately misleading would be an understatement. There is voluminous evidence, including numerous judicial rulings, that Olivier Martinez repeatedly violated court orders and interfered with necessary therapeutic and educational interventions to the detriment of his and Halle Berry’s minor son Maceo – misconduct for which Mr. Martinez has already been legally sanctioned,” Berry’s lawyer released in a statement to TMZ.
The statement continued: “In a way, today’s filing is not entirely unexpected from an individual with a well-documented history of erratic, possessive and violent behavior. Fortunately, Halle is used to this kind of outrageous conduct from Mr. Martinez and, while she is deeply saddened, she will not allow it to deter her from fighting for Maceo’s best interests and providing him with the love and support he needs.”
Presiding over the emergency petition on Thursday, the Los Angeles County judge granted modified visitation terms designed to maintain limited communication between Berry and Maceo pending a full evidentiary hearing later this month. Under the temporary order, Berry’s visitation with Maceo is restricted to monitored daytime windows on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The judge denied Martinez’s request to mandate drug and alcohol sobriety testing for Berry prior to visits, citing “insufficient information” to justify the restriction.
Berry and Martinez married in 2013 before separating in 2015. Their contentious divorce was finalized in August 2023, followed by a formal co-parenting agreement reached in 2024. Berry is also mother to 18-year-old daughter Nahla from her previous relationship with model Gabriel Aubry.
