Once Hollywood royalty, Halle Berry faces allegations of physically abusing her son
She won an Oscar, had superpowers in the X-Men movies and played a sexy Bond girl, but these days, there is little Hollywood glamour in Halle Berry’s life. Not only is her career in the doldrums, but she has become embroiled in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband, Olivier Martinez, after he accused her of being physically abusive to their 13-year-old son – a claim she denies.
Martinez, 60, who was dubbed “the French Brad Pitt” after appearing in erotic thrillers such as Unfaithful, and whose exes also include Kylie Minogue, met Berry in 2010 on the set of Dark Tide. The pair married in 2013, but divorced three years later. Relations are now in a dire state.
Last month, Martinez obtained a temporary domestic violence restraining order against Berry, 60. He was also granted temporary primary custody of their son, Maceo, which a judge has ruled must stay in place after a two-week court case.
According to court documents filed in Los Angeles, where Berry, her ex-husband and her child reside, Martinez claimed that on September 26, during an argument about Maceo playing a game while wearing virtual reality goggles, Berry jumped on Maceo and started choking him while shouting: “Who is dominant now?” Martinez claimed Maceo was traumatised and didn’t want to return to Berry’s house.
Martinez further alleged that Berry had, on multiple occasions, “wrestled Maceo to the ground and forced him to ‘tap out’.” He also made the explosive claim that in 2023, Berry had told Maceo that his father was a “white b**** trying to rob a black woman” because of child support issues.
Berry denied Martinez’ claims. She also referenced her history of domestic abuse from a previous relationship, saying: “I have never physically, emotionally or otherwise abused Maceo. I am a victim of domestic violence, and I help victims of domestic violence.”
She said she had submitted video evidence to support her contrasting recollection of the incident. She claimed she had told Maceo it was time to stop gaming, while filming him on her phone, and that Maceo then grabbed her phone and they began “playfully roughhousing”. Berry claimed Maceo became “unexpectedly” upset and pushed her when she tried to take his headset, at which point Berry’s fiance, Van Hunt, 56, got between them. Maceo then threatened to call his father and leave.
Berry alleged she had pleaded with Martinez to enforce boundaries with Maceo, who is neurodivergent. Berry said Maceo’s school had previously raised concerns about his behaviour, and she had clashed with Martinez over recommended interventions for Maceo.
Berry’s attorney, Marina Beck, called Martinez’ filing “entirely meritless and deliberately misleading”. She claimed that Martinez had a “well-documented history of erratic, possessive and violent behaviour”, and that Berry was used to “this kind of outrageous conduct”.
The ruling on October 1 means Berry can no longer have a say in where her child lives, but she can still make decisions about his health, education and welfare. The judge added that Berry could no longer have overnight visits with Maceo, according to TMZ. Those restrictions remain in place, although the judge lifted the restraining order on October 29.
During the court case, Maceo testified for nearly four hours in a closed courtroom.
But Berry’s daughter, Nahla Aubry, 18 – whose father is Gabriel Aubry, a 50-year-old Canadian model – has leaped to her mother’s defence. “I never observed anything abusive about her parenting,” said Nahla in a written declaration. She described Berry as “loving and devoted”, and alleged that the only violent behaviour she had witnessed came from Martinez “beating up my father in our driveway when I was little”. She claimed that Martinez was on a quest “to destroy my mom”. Nahla also testified behind closed doors last week.
The acrimonious custody case is surely the nadir for Berry, whose professional and private lives have spiralled so badly that her name has become a byword for Hollywood misfortune.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Berry shot to fame as a beauty queen, representing the US at the 1986 Miss World pageant. She leveraged that into acting stardom and, in 2002, she was on top of the world when she made history as the first black Best Actress Oscar winner, awarded for the sombre drama, Monster’s Ball.
But her career has been so disastrous since that a new term was coined: “The Halle Berry Effect”. It’s applied to actresses who seem cursed by nabbing that Oscar statue, and whose careers nosedive after that triumphant night.
Her 2004 solo superhero bid, Catwoman, was an epic failure. It bombed at the box office and won four Golden Raspberry Awards (parody prizes given out to the most execrable films of the year), including Worst Actress for Berry.
More disasters followed, including the risible horror movie, Dark Tide, in which Berry battled with sharks, and the woefully misconceived science-fiction adaptation, Cloud Atlas. Reflecting her plummeting status, Berry was reduced to bit parts in franchise sequels like Kingsman: The Golden Circle and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.
This is in stark contrast to her career at the beginning of the early 2000s, when she was pairing critically acclaimed work with blockbuster fare such as the X-Men movies, in which she played Storm, a weather-controlling mutant, and the James Bond film, Die Another Day, starring opposite Pierce Brosnan as Jinx, a feisty NSA agent.
Her attempted comeback in 2014 via the small screen was yet another misfire. Extant, a sci-fi TV show in wich Berry played a mysteriously pregnant astronaut, was criticised for being convoluted and derivative. The Telegraph called it “criminally cack-handed” and “an unholy mess”. What might have defined a new chapter in her career instead confirmed her total obsolescence.
With no acting projects worth a mention, it’s little wonder that her turbulent private life instead dominated headlines. As Berry acknowledged in a Marie Claire interview: “I have two baby daddies and three divorces under my belt.”
She has also, as she mentioned during her dispute with Martinez, been the victim of domestic violence. While filming The Last Boy Scout in 1991, an abusive boyfriend – whom she has never named, but has said is a well-known person in Hollywood – beat her and punctured her eardrum, causing her to lose 80 per cent of the hearing in her left ear. Berry’s former partner, Christopher Williams, claimed in 2004 that Wesley Snipes was responsible for the abuse. Snipes did not publicly respond to the allegation.
In 1993, Berry married David Justice, a baseball player, following a whirlwind courtship, but the union soon broke down and the couple divorced in 1997. Berry admitted in a 2007 interview that she was so low she contemplated suicide. She recalled sitting in her car with the gas coming in, but changing her mind when she had an image of her mother finding her. Berry explained: “She sacrificed so much for her children, and to end my life would be an incredibly selfish thing to do”.
Berry next married musician Eric Benet in 2001. However, that was similarly short-lived, as they divorced just four years later.
The actress had Nahla in 2008 with Aubry but, after their split, the pair argued over custody arrangements. Berry wanted to move Nahla from Los Angeles to France, where her new boyfriend, Martinez, lived.
In 2012, when Aubry dropped off 4-year-old Nahla at Berry’s home for Thanksgiving, he and Martinez got into a fistfight. Both men were treated in hospital for minor injuries. In court filings requesting a restraining order, Aubry claimed Martinez had threatened to kill him, while Martinez alleged that Aubry had attacked him first. Berry and Aubry eventually reached a custody agreement.
Now, however, Berry is mired in yet another grim custody battle. The actress who was once lauded for her stirring work in Hollywood movies only seems able to create drama at home or in the courtroom.
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