Halle Berry has fired back at ex-husband Olivier Martinez with fresh court filings that paint him as the source of their son’s hostility.
The Oscar-winning actress, 58, submitted new documents asking a judge to restore the 50/50 custody arrangement for Maceo, 13, according to papers on Monday. The filing lands weeks after Martinez, 59, secured primary custody of the teenager and a temporary restraining order against Berry over allegations that she had choked Maceo during a September argument.
Berry alleges in the documents that Martinez has systematically turned their son against her through “continued attempts to align Maceo with him and against me in many areas of our child’s life and activities.” She claims the pattern has become unmistakable when Maceo returns from visits with his father.
“When Maceo would come home from his custodial time with Olivier, he would be angry and combative,” she wrote in the filing.
Berry also claims she watched Maceo parrot private disputes between the former spouses, consistently adopting Martinez’s position. According to the documents, this dynamic has eroded her parental authority and taken a measurable toll on the teenager’s wellbeing.
“[Martinez’s] refusal to allow early interventions have caused Maceo to fall further behind in school, caused Maceo’s acting out behaviors to worsen, and caused further damage to Maceo’s and [Berry’s] relationship,” she alleges in the docs.
The filing further accuses Martinez of blocking family therapy sessions that would include Berry’s fiancé, musician Van Hunt, 54. Berry wants the court to compel Martinez to participate in court-ordered co-parenting therapy, arguing his resistance has sabotaged efforts to build a healthy blended family.
Martinez fired back with his own response asking the judge to deny Berry’s request, reports said.
Berry’s attorney, Marina Beck, issued a blistering statement defending her client against Martinez’s earlier abuse claims. “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,” Beck shared.
The statement characterized Martinez’s choking allegations as “entirely meritless and deliberately misleading.”
The public legal war traces back to Martinez’s explosive filing, which accused Berry of a physical attack on September 26. The French actor alleged the “Monster’s Ball” star jumped on Maceo, put her hands around his neck and choked him after the two argued over his use of a virtual reality game. Martinez claimed this was not an isolated episode, stating in court documents that “throughout the last year and a half, Ms. Berry had wrestled Maceo to the ground and forced him to ‘tap out.'” He included private text messages where Maceo allegedly begged his father to pick him up following the reported choking incident.
Berry and Martinez were photographed Sunday with Maceo at Sky Zone in Los Angeles, accompanied by some of the teen’s friends, in images. The outing offered a rare public display of normalcy amid the escalating court fight.
The former couple first met on the set of “Dark Tide” in July 2010, married in July 2013, and split in October 2015. Their divorce took eight years to finalize.
Berry and Martinez, both 60, have traded accusations throughout their prolonged separation, with Monday’s filings marking the latest escalation in their co-parenting breakdown.