‘Crime 101’ Star Halle Berry Fights to Restore Custody Deal as Olivier Martinez Dispute Escalates

Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez have been in and out of family court for years over their son, Maceo. The former couple met in 2010 and split in October 2015 after 2 years of marriage, and the custody questions that followed were only settled in August 2023.

That agreement set up joint legal custody, with Berry paying Martinez $8,000 a month in child support plus 4.3% of any income she receives above $2 million. It has been tested repeatedly since, with earlier filings that saw Berry seek sole legal custody and later ask the court to push Martinez toward co-parenting therapy.

Now the dispute has taken a far more serious turn. Entertainment Weekly reports that Berry sidestepped Martinez’s claims that she abused their 13-year-old son in a new court filing, and instead accused her ex of turning Maceo against her.

According to filings reviewed by Entertainment Weekly, Berry submitted a lengthy set of documents to Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, October 5. She asks the judge to restore the 50-50 custody agreement the two established in 2023, to return tie-breaking authority over parental decisions to her, and to order Martinez back into counseling.

Her filing lists a series of concerns about Martinez’s conduct. They include accusations that he repeatedly puts Maceo in the middle of their disputes, interferes with her therapeutic work with their son, and tries to align the boy with him and against her.

She also alleges that Martinez has attempted to influence Maceo’s teachers and therapist against her. And she says that Maceo returns from time with his father angry and combative, and that he sometimes repeats private disputes between the two parents.

One of the concerns concerns her partner. Berry says Martinez continues to refuse to accept her relationship with Van Hunt, who she says plays an important role in Maceo’s life. She also says therapy has improved Maceo’s behavior at home and with her.

The new filing arrives days after Martinez sought sole custody and a restraining order. On October 1, he alleged that Berry physically attacked Maceo during a September 26 confrontation at her home.

A Los Angeles judge partly granted the request, reportedly limiting Berry’s court-ordered time with Maceo to daytime visits while the custody case plays out. Fiction Horizon notes that Berry’s latest filing did not directly address Martinez’s abuse allegations.

Berry has strongly denied the accusations. Her attorney, Marina Beck, has called Martinez’s filing meritless and deliberately misleading, and she has accused him of repeatedly violating court orders and interfering with therapeutic and educational interventions involving Maceo.

Martinez has already responded, asking the court to deny Berry’s request entirely. He says the temporary restraining order is currently in place and alleges there is a risk of immediate danger to his son. He also claims that Berry improperly filed an emergency request rather than a regularly calendared one.

His attorney, Patrick Baghdaserians, has said Martinez’s paramount concern is Maceo’s health, welfare and safety, and that Martinez is focused on protecting him. It is worth noting that all of the claims in this case are allegations, and no court has made findings about them.

For now, the two sides are on opposite ends of a deeply personal fight. Berry is pushing to restore the arrangement they agreed to in 2023, while Martinez continues to seek sole custody.

The case is headed back to court, where a judge will weigh the competing requests. Until then, the filings from both sides give a window into a long-running dispute that has grown more intense in recent weeks.

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