Olivier Martinez told a Los Angeles court on Thursday, Oct. 22, that Halle Berry had abused him for about a decade. Page Six reported the exchange from the Halle Berry custody hearing.
Berry’s lawyer then read him his own 2024 sworn declaration, which said there was “no history of domestic violence” between them.
Berry, 60, denies Martinez’s allegations. No court has ruled on whether any of them are true.
Martinez obtained a temporary restraining order against Berry on Oct. 1. This hearing will decide whether it becomes a longer one, and who makes decisions for their son, Maceo, 13.
What Martinez said under cross-examination
Thursday was the fourth day in a row of the hearing at Los Angeles Superior Court, Page Six reported. Berry testified first, in a closed courtroom. Her attorney, Marina Beck, then cross-examined Martinez, who is also 60.
Beck asked whether he was alleging that Berry had committed acts of abuse against him going back 10 years. “Correct,” Martinez replied, according to Page Six. He also confirmed that he was alleging further abuse in 2023, including statements he says Berry made to Maceo.
Beck then handed him a declaration he signed on Sept. 30, 2024. She read one line aloud: “There is no history of domestic violence between the parties.” Asked whether that statement was true when he made it, Martinez confirmed that it was, Page Six reported.
The courtroom was later cleared when questioning turned to confidential matters involving Maceo.
His lawyer says the 2024 statement was about fees
Martinez’s attorney, Patrick Baghdaserians, told Page Six the 2024 declaration had nothing to do with custody. “That was related to need-based attorneys fees, that’s a financial request,” he said.
“There was no conviction of domestic violence at the time so his statement is correct,” Baghdaserians added. “At the time there was no restraining order ever requested, ever entered.”
Beck used the document to challenge his new allegations. Martinez’s side reads it as a narrower statement that no conviction or restraining order existed.
The line Beck read refers to a “history of domestic violence,” not to court orders. How much weight it carries is for the judge.
The Sept. 26 allegation that started the case
Martinez filed for a domestic violence restraining order on Oct. 1.
In those court papers, first reported by Page Six, he alleged that Berry choked Maceo during an argument at her home on Sept. 26. He said their son then called him to come and get him.
He also alleged that over the previous 18 months Berry had wrestled Maceo to the ground on other occasions. In the same filing, Martinez asked for sole custody.
A judge, Shelley Kaufman, issued a temporary order the same day, Newsweek reported.
It ordered Berry to stay 100 yards from Martinez and Maceo except for court-approved visits. She kept unsupervised daytime visits on set days, but no overnights. According to Newsweek, the judge did not grant Martinez sole custody and denied his request for alcohol testing. Page Six has described the order as giving Martinez primary custody while the case proceeds.
In California, judges usually rule on temporary orders from the paperwork alone, before the other side responds. In most counties the person asking “will not talk to a judge right away,” says the California courts’ self-help guide. A judge decides whether to grant a longer order, which can last up to five years, only after a hearing.
Berry’s denial and her case against Martinez
Through Beck, Berry called Martinez’s filing “entirely meritless and deliberately misleading” in a statement to Page Six on Oct. 1. Beck cited “voluminous evidence, including numerous judicial rulings,” that Martinez had broken court orders. She said he had interfered with Maceo’s therapy and schooling. She also alleged that Martinez had a history of “erratic, possessive and violent behavior.”
In a declaration filed in early October, Berry wrote: “I have never physically, emotionally, or otherwise abused Maceo.” People obtained that filing, and WLOS quoted it. Her 18-year-old daughter, Nahla Aubry, filed a declaration saying she had never seen her mother abuse her brother, Page Six reported.
Berry is asking the court to dismiss the restraining order request and lift the limits on her time with Maceo. She also wants a return to 50-50 physical custody.
And she wants sole legal custody, which would give her the final say on his schooling, medical care and mental health. Page Six’s Thursday report did not include a new comment from Berry’s team on the 2024 declaration.
A custody fight that goes back to 2015
Berry and Martinez married in July 2013, had Maceo later that year and separated in October 2015. In August 2023 they settled on joint legal and physical custody, Page Six reported. Under that deal, Berry pays $8,000 a month in child support plus Maceo’s school fees.
The truce didn’t hold. In 2024 Berry asked a court for sole legal custody or tie-breaking power over Maceo’s care, according to Newsweek. In November 2024 a judge sided with her in a dispute over co-parenting therapy and called Martinez’s reasons unpersuasive.
Maceo testified for nearly four hours earlier this week, behind closed doors. Court documents obtained by TMZ and cited by WLOS say his testimony covers only the restraining order request, not the wider custody fight.
Berry, who won an Oscar for “Monster’s Ball,” recreated her 2003 Oscars kiss with Adrien Brody on the 2025 Oscars red carpet last year.
The hearing was due to continue on Friday, Oct. 23, Page Six reported. The temporary order stays in place until the judge rules on whether to grant a longer restraining order and on Berry’s custody requests.