Highlights
- A judge granted Olivier Martinez a temporary restraining order after he alleged Halle Berry choked their son.
- Berry’s attorney Marina Beck called the filing entirely meritless and deliberately misleading, citing his past conduct.
- Berry now has limited daytime visits with their 12-year-old son until a court hearing scheduled for Oct. 16.
Olivier Martinez has gone to court asking for protection for himself and their 12-year-old son from Halle Berry. Berry says his account is false.
A Los Angeles County judge granted a temporary restraining order against Berry on Thursday (October 1, 2026) after Martinez accused the actress of choking their son and asked the court to give him sole custody. Berry must stay at least 100 yards from Martinez, and her contact with their son, Maceo, is limited to court-ordered visitation until another hearing on October 16th.
The filing centers on September 26 at Berry’s home. Martinez alleges she abused Maceo “by jumping on him, putting her hands around his neck and choking him.”
He claims she shouted, “Who is dominant now?! Who is dominant?”
According to Martinez, his son called him that night. “I heard him panicking,” he wrote.
The boy later told his father he had been playing a VR game in his bedroom when Berry came in and began pushing him. Martinez also claims Berry texted him the next morning to apologize.
He alleges it was not a one-time event. He said Berry had previously wrestled with Maceo and forced him to “tap out,” claims she allegedly dismissed as playing with their son.
TMZ reported that Martinez also claimed Berry threatened to have Maceo deported to France.
Martinez wrote that he worries about Berry’s mental health, “as well as her alcohol abuse, which I believe have contributed to her abusive conduct.”
He requested drug testing and a psychological evaluation before Berry’s visits, and asked the judge to order her into a 52-week batterer intervention program.
His attorney, Patrick Baghdaserians, said the “paramount concern is the health, welfare and the safety of the minor child.”
Berry, 60, denies the allegations.
“To say this filing is entirely meritless and deliberately misleading would be an understatement,” her attorney, Berry’s attorney Marina Beck, said.
Beck argued that Martinez repeatedly violated court orders and interfered with their son’s therapeutic and educational interventions. She also cited what she called his history of “erratic, possessive and violent behavior.”
The temporary order is not a verdict. It remains in effect pending the October 16 hearing and does not mean the court has found Martinez’s allegations true.
For now, the custody arrangement has shifted. Berry has temporarily lost the former couple’s 50/50 split and is limited to visitation two days a week and every other weekend.
The conflict did not begin this week. When the couple filed for divorce in October 2015, they said they acted “with love and respect for one another.” The divorce took eight years to finalize and ended in August 2023.
In 2024, Berry sought sole legal custody or decision-making authority over their son’s education and treatment, accusing Martinez of interference. Martinez disputed her allegations. In that filing, Berry acknowledged she “is not perfect.”
Both parents return to court October 16. A 12-year-old waits on the outcome.
