Halle Berry receives temporary restraining order over estranged husband's allegations of child abuse

On September 26, 2026, Halle Berry was home with her 12-year-old son, Maceo, when an incident took place that her former husband, Olivier Martinez, later described in a court filing as a physical attack.

Martinez claimed Berry jumped on the boy while he was wearing virtual reality goggles in his bedroom, put her hands around his neck, and choked him. He added that Maceo called him right afterward, upset, and asked to be picked up. Martinez took those claims to Los Angeles Superior Court on October 1, 2026, and asked for a domestic violence restraining order plus sole custody.

As reported by TMZ, the petition treated the September 26 episode as the latest in what Martinez described as several physical attacks on Maceo over recent years, along with verbal and emotional abuse directed at him. The filing also claimed Berry once told Maceo that his father was “a white b*tch trying to rob a Black woman” because of child support. She then asked the boy how he felt about that "as a Black man."

Martinez wrote that he did not want to cut off contact between Berry and their son permanently. He said he did not think they should spend time together until she took responsibility.

A Los Angeles County judge signed a temporary restraining order that same day. It requires Halle Berry to stay 100 yards from Martinez and keeps her visits with Maceo to the schedule the court already had in place, two days a week and every other weekend, until a hearing on October 16, 2026. The judge also sent both parents to confidential mediation over custody.

Halle Berry and Oliver Martinez married in 2013 and said they were separating in 2015. They finalized the divorce in 2023 after years of litigation that included a child-support order.

In a text that appears in the court file and was reported by People, Berry wrote to Martinez the next day:

"I feel terrible about what happened last night as I know he does as well."

Halle Berry's attorney calls the filing meritless

Halle Berry has not commented herself. Her lawyer, Marina Beck, answered the petition in remarks shared with reporters. According to Variety, Beck said:

"To say this filing is entirely meritless and deliberately misleading would be an understatement. There is voluminous evidence, including numerous judicial rulings, that Olivier Martinez repeatedly violated court orders and interfered with necessary therapeutic and educational interventions to the detriment of his and Halle Berry's minor son Maceo – misconduct for which Mr. Martinez has already been legally sanctioned."

Marina Beck also said the filing was not a surprise given what she called Martinez's past conduct. Beck said that Berry would keep working for her son's best interests.

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Oliver Martinez's lawyer, Patrick Baghdaserians, told People the focus was the child's health, welfare, and safety, and framed the request as a way to protect Maceo while pushing Berry to address her own problems.

Maceo was born in October 2013. The temporary order remains in effect until the October 16 hearing, when a judge will decide whether the limits stay in place. The court has not tested the allegations.

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