‘X-Men’ Star Halle Berry Denies Ex Olivier Martinez’s Abuse Claims, Says She Is a Domestic Violence Survivor

The custody dispute between Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez has escalated rapidly over the past week. On October 2, Page Six reported that Martinez had filed for a temporary restraining order against Berry, alleging that she physically harmed their son, Maceo, during an incident in September.

Martinez has since asked the court to replace the former couple’s joint legal and physical custody arrangement with temporary sole custody for himself, leaving Berry with visitation. Berry, meanwhile, has filed her own request to restore their previous 50/50 custody agreement.

Now the Oscar winner is responding directly to the allegations at the center of the case. In a court response obtained by TMZ, Berry denied harming her 13-year-old son and described herself as a domestic violence survivor and advocate, stating plainly, “I would never hurt our child,” according to TMZ.

According to Berry’s filing, the incident began when she asked Maceo to stop playing a virtual reality game in his room. She says the 2 then began playfully roughhousing, which she acknowledges escalated.

Berry says her son pushed her when she tried to remove his headset, and her partner, musician Van Hunt, came upstairs and intervened. She denies ever placing her hands around Maceo’s neck or restricting his breathing, and also denies making a remark attributed to her in Martinez’s filing.

The actress says she has timestamped video that supports her version of events. She also says she texted Martinez afterward, asking him to enforce appropriate boundaries with their son, and told him the next day that she felt terrible about what had happened.

Berry argued that giving Martinez primary custody would be detrimental to Maceo. She alleged that Martinez lacks child-centered guidance and has allowed their son to make medical decisions for himself. Martinez has pushed back in a separate filing. He said Berry deliberately misrepresented his behavior regarding Maceo’s mental health treatment.

According to TMZ, the court has amended the temporary restraining order to preserve Berry’s final decision-making authority over her son’s mental health and education. Berry’s attorney, Marina Beck, has called Martinez’s filing entirely meritless and deliberately misleading.

Berry has long spoken out about domestic violence. She has supported and volunteered with the Jenesse Center, a nonprofit dedicated to helping families affected by abuse. At a 2015 gala, she spoke about the lasting damage of growing up as a child of domestic violence.

In her latest filing, she says she is a survivor herself but does not name the perpetrator, and she has never publicly identified who abused her beyond saying it was an ex. Notably, Berry has not accused Martinez of domestic violence. Her statement focuses on rejecting the claims against her.

The case is now headed back to court, with both parents presenting starkly different accounts. Neither side’s allegations have been established as fact. Berry and Martinez, who married in 2013 and later divorced, have spent years in and out of court over custody of Maceo. Whatever the outcome, the dispute has become one of the most closely watched custody battles in Hollywood.

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