‘She Is Not an Abuser’: Halle Berry’s Daughter Fires Back at the Allegations Tearing Her Family Apart

Family court battles rarely stay private once celebrity names are attached, and the dispute between Halle Berry and her ex-husband Olivier Martinez has become a prime example. The former couple, who married in France in 2013, have been fighting over custody of their son, Maceo, for years. Now the case has taken a far more serious turn.

In early October, Martinez asked a Los Angeles court for a temporary restraining order and sole custody, alleging that Berry physically abused their son. A judge granted the temporary order on Oct. 1, though reports stress that it is not a finding that his claims are true. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16.

Into that tense situation stepped someone with a unique vantage point: Berry’s daughter, Nahla Aubry. In a court declaration, she defended her mother, describing Berry as a loving, devoted parent who can be strict when she needs to be, but insisting she has never seen her mother physically abuse her younger half-brother.

Nahla, whose father is Berry’s former partner Gabriel Aubry, filed the declaration in Los Angeles Superior Court on Oct. 3, according to reports. She said she never saw Berry hit, grab or otherwise physically harm Maceo, and described the allegations as completely out of step with the mother she knows. She recalled playful wrestling between Berry and Maceo, adding that her brother never seemed hurt afterward.

She also said Berry has encouraged both of her children to maintain loving relationships with their fathers. Nahla added that she is heartbroken for Maceo, whom she described as caught up in a dispute he may not fully understand. She also said she felt like an afterthought to Martinez, and she referenced a past altercation involving Martinez and her father, a claim the report notes has not been independently established.

Nahla and Maceo have different fathers, but the two have spent most of their lives together with their mother. Nahla recently moved to Massachusetts to study, and she described Berry as someone who has always prioritized what matters to her and treated Maceo the same way. Her statement reflects her personal experience of how Berry parents, and it does not settle what happened in the disputed incident.

Martinez alleges that during an incident on Sept. 26, Berry became upset while Maceo was playing a virtual reality game, jumped on him and put her hands around his neck. He says it was not an isolated event and has cited older alleged incidents, along with text messages Berry sent him afterward. Berry’s contact with Maceo was limited to court-ordered visitation until the Oct. 16 hearing.

These are unproven claims, and Berry disputes them. In her own declaration, filed Oct. 5, she denied ever harming her son and said they were roughhousing, as they often do, when he became upset after realizing she was recording. She submitted video that she says contradicts her ex-husband’s account and described herself as a domestic violence victim who also helps others.

Her attorney, Marina Beck, called the filing meritless and misleading. Berry has also applied to restore their previous 50/50 custody arrangement, arguing that Martinez cannot provide child-centered guidance. Reports add that both parents have been ordered to attend confidential custody mediation.

The case is still at an early stage, and a temporary restraining order is designed to protect people while the court sorts out the facts. That makes every filing important, including statements from family members who have witnessed daily life in the household. A sibling’s account will not decide the outcome, but it adds another perspective for the judge to weigh.

It also shows how quickly a private custody dispute can pull in an entire family. Nahla is not a party to the case, yet she chose to put her experience on the record. For a public already watching closely, her words offer a rare glimpse of how Berry’s home life looks from the inside.

Much remains unresolved, and the next hearing will likely bring more clarity. Until then, the competing accounts stand side by side, with a young person at the center of both.

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