A few weeks ago, Halle Berry filed an emergency motion in family court. The motion was complicated – since Halle and Olivier Martinez got a divorce, they’re both supposed to undergo coparenting coaching sessions to help them raise their son Maceo. Olivier was skipping his sessions because he wanted to take the summer off and travel back to France for a time. Halle seemingly took advantage of Olivier being out of town to file that “emergency motion,” and the family court was like… this is not an emergency. But Halle is going to do her thing, and I knew something bigger was coming. Here we go… Halle has now filed for sole custody of Maceo.
Halle Berry is seeking sole custody of her son, Maceo, claiming that his father, Oliver Martinez, “refuses to co-parent or communicate in a child-centered way.”
Weeks after The Union actress, 58, alleged that her ex-husband, also 58, failed to continue seeing a co-parenting coach — and after a source told PEOPLE that co-parenting “hasn’t been easy” for the former spouses — Berry filed a request for sole legal custody of their 10-year-old son on Friday, Aug. 16. Per legal documents obtained by PEOPLE, Berry is requesting custody, “or in the alternative, tie-breaking authority to make all decisions” about his education, health and therapy needs.
The documents, filed in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County, arrive a year after they finalized their divorce, nearly eight years after their 2015 split. At the time, they agreed to share joint legal custody of their son, with Berry paying Martinez $8,000 a month in child support and an additional “4.3% of any income she receives above $2,000,000.”
In the latest filing, Berry claims she’s made an effort to address her son’s “educational challenges” and additional behavioral concerns as she “fought for tutoring, an educational assessment and finding an environment that was suitable to Maceo’s needs.” The filing alleges that Martinez, however, has been “oppositional, unmoving and withheld his consent for years.”
“Because of Respondent’s opposition to any interventions whatsoever for years and because of Respondent’s prioritizing soccer activities over Maceo’s educational and psychological well-being, Maceo’s educational and behavioral challenges worsened, and he continued to fall further behind in school,” the document alleges. Specifically, Berry claims that Maceo would “act out” toward her following “longer periods of custody” with his father and that her son would “repeat disputes” that the former couple had in private. She alleges that Martinez claimed the boy was “old enough to make his own decisions.”
A lawyer for Martinez told PEOPLE that he will be “responding to these allegations” in the coming weeks. A representative and a lawyer for Berry did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
It sounds like Maceo has some special needs and instead of Olivier and Halle coming to an agreement about their son’s education and priorities, Olivier is the devil-may-care father who lets Maceo do whatever he wants while Halle has to play bad cop. I mean, this is Halle’s narrative. I wonder what Olivier’s narrative will be. To think that they managed to keep it together long enough to complete their divorce over the course of eight years, only for Halle to challenge the custody agreement one year after their divorce was finalized.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Olivier Martinez, Halle Berry at the World Premiere of CBS Films Extant, California Science Center, Los Angeles, CA 06-16-14,Image: 552979819, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Martin Sloan / Avalon
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- Olivier Martinez, Halle Berry at the World Premiere of CBS Films Extant, California Science Center, Los Angeles, CA 06-16-14,Image: 552979883, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Martin Sloan / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – AUGUST 12: Halle Berry arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Netflix’s ‘The Union’ held at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on August 12, 2024 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 898267724, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Halle Berry, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 12: Halle Berry attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Netflix’s “The Union” at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on August 12, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.,Image: 898291636, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Halle Berry, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 12: Halle Berry attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Netflix’s “The Union” at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on August 12, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.,Image: 898291672, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Halle Berry, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
Some parents have trouble accepting that their children need more assistance than others. Especially boys, some men take it as a personal affront that their son isn’t “perfect”. I hope the child gets what he needs. I’m going to look away, drink my water and mind my business.
Yes it does sound like their son has special needs and it sounds like Olivier still hasn’t comes to terms with that. I think Halle feels she shouldn’t have to pay child support and share custody when she’s the sole carer.
As a mom of two young boys but who only grew up with sisters, I can tell boys are just different in ways I did not expect. Of course there are exceptions. Mine go to a very good public school that offers extra supports. With mine it seems to be reading/writing that is more challenging. The extra support for this is called “reading club”. There are a couple a girls in reading club but it’s mostly the boys. My point is that most of these kids are not “special needs”. It’s more that boys tend to need extra support. School in general different than it used to be. They are teaching kids reading in K now. Some kids just are not ready. So for this Halle and Olivier, it is not necessarily about Maceo being a special needs kid.
Except, you just described students with special needs. They need extra support…that’s what that means. My children were put in “talented and gifted” classes because they’re good at math. They’re also special needs. Anything that requires more instruction than the standard classroom is special needs.
It is possible that Maceo’s special needs are because he’s not being challenged. Lots of kids act out when they’re bored. It could also be the other direction, obviously, but it sounds like he needs more than what he is currently getting.
So this was all making news reports last year… apparently nearly 60% of kids struggle in some fashion with learning. This a controversy in the science of reading, for teachers. My quibble is that it’s actually normal. So even normal kids need extra supports. There is still extra stuff beyond that for kids with special needs.
So school helps girls succeed but the actual structure seems to be not as conducive for boys. There are now fewer boys in graduating from college. That whole issue needs to be sorted out.
Kids struggle with traditional learning because as a tool, a way to teach, it’s terrible.
Traditional schooling is terrible. It caters to one way to learn only: memorize & regurgitate.
We learn in 3 different ways: listening, written, doing.
My daughter was lucky, she was an even 33% of each. She is so successful at university it’s astonishing.
But she isn’t the norm. Most kids don’t learn by rote. Most have test anxiety. Most can’t function with all the external noise, the number of kids in the class, the pressure & socializing & teachers who don’t like them.
Also, has no in education ever read Lord of the Flies? Putting kids together for hours/days/weeks/months with minimal supervision & support?
What do they expect? The ones that make it, like my kid, are the exception.
I get your point, @Tara. Where Kindergarten used to focus on developmentally appropriate learning through play and social interactions, and formal reading instruction wasn’t implemented until later — sometimes as late as 7 or 8, the focus on certain kinds of academic skills and certain kinds of academic assessments has been moved back to earlier ages. I think this has been to the detriment of many, if not most kids.
How much of that thinking is just gender stereotypes?
Might not even be conscious. You (plural) expect boys to not enjoy reading/writing, because society has told us that. So expectations & access are limited.
Because if boys aren’t reading, what are they doing? Sports? Stem?
Same for girls. Stem is still elusive for far too many girls because it’s traditionally a male dominated field. The expected is more humanities for girls, like teaching.
Also, kids learn to read way before kindergarten. Every time you read with your children, they are learning to read. Read often to your kids guys, it’s the gateway to life. Every field stems from reading/comprehension.
Poor kiddo. I hope he gets the support he needs.
Just to be clear she’s asking for sole legal custody, not sole custody. She wants to be able to make all these decisions alone, but he would still have physical time with the father. This is…..a disaster waiting to happen.
It sounds to me like a guardian ad litem and an independent evaluator of his needs is needed. Poor kid, this is going to all be incredibly stressful.
I’m looking at her complaint with skepticism after the nightmare she dragged her daughter through years ago, making many extreme claims.
This has the same vibe, especially if she felt she did not have enough “control” (or not having enough parents support!) after having the divorce drag on and on and on. I would be interested to hear her ex’s side before making any judgement either way.
@MIA45, as a court appointed special advocate for children ages 2-18 years old I could not agree more.
This is all so wild given how much hell she gave Gabriel Aubry (someone who seemed decent and a fully involved dad who wanted regular access to his daughter) and tried to move to France with Olivier, denying regular access to Gabriel’s daughter Nahla! Luckily the judge saw reason there and told her no. Since then, we have not heard her make a peep or complaint about Gabriel (because he sees his daughter on a regular basis and is probably the better co-parent out of the two dads). Bet she’s glad she never moved to France with Olivier! Imagine how much more of a mess that would have been if she had tried to divorce him in France and then tried to move back to France with Maceo.
Obviously hard to know what’s going on but if Olivier is truly refusing his son access to helpful tutors/learning assessments or in denial his son needs an IEP, I fully support Halle trying to do right by her son. I think it may be a little extreme to file for full custody but maybe it’s more of a scare tactic to get Olivier to agree on Maceo’s educational needs. Poor Maceo.
As someone above said Halle is not seeking full custody, but sole legal custody meaning she alone would be able to make the decisions for Maceo’s school, health, etc. Oliver will still have his visitation time with Maceo.
If she got this order she would be able to keep a tight leash on the situation. Legal custody can include loopholes to interfere with physical custody.
She tried to use her older daughter as a pawn and has made herself an unreliable narrator in terms of custody claims.
My Goddaughter has a Son with special needs…and EVERYDAY I THANK G-D that his Father has MINIMAL contact with their child…because he IGNORES the fact that their Son NEEDS therapy & attention to his psychological infrastructure….so since Marc was 5 (he’s 14 now) he’s been able to get the mental & educational care where he hasn’t fallen behind…when Marc was younger he spent every other weekend with his Father & it would take almost 2 weeks to get him BACK on track and it was a VICIOUS cycle…(acting out in class…calls from school…detention…acting out at home) for the last 5 years…less contact means a more stable environment for Marc no calls from school…being responsible & respectful at home…So I’m not of the mindset that a child needs both Parents in their lives if the Parents are NOT supportive of the child’s WHOLE well-being…just run that $$$
My brother is a pediatrician and neo doctor. He works at the largest children’s hospital in South America. He says that, usually, fathers tend to minimise EVERYTHING related to a child’s illness and/or treatment while mothers usually see the urgency and importance from the start.
When he treats children with gender disphoria and they’re evaluated to meet their needs, he knows fathers are going to be cool about it and moms will lose their minds trying to understand them. By the time a diagnosis is reached and a plan is put into action (legal gender/name change, hormones, therapy, surgery, whichever each child needs) fathers lose their minds because they “thought it was just a phase” and have a hard time coming to terms whith it.
Same thing for any kind of disability or special needs. Dads minimise and are in denial for a long time.
Some people should be single parents and Halle seems to be one of them.
While I remember the custody shenanigans w Nahla’s father, this situation has some weight to it. 1/ The co-parenting sessions are over Zoom so Olivier shouldn’t have to miss months of meetings. There would be a way to make it work. That he can’t find a way, looks bad. 2/ The timing. It is right before school is about to start up again. Now would be a good time for the parents to make a plan for Maceo’s education. If the dad is not willing to make this happen before school starts — I would flip out if I were his co-parent too. I could see thinking it was an “emergency” if decisions need to be made asap. 3/ Halle is just asking to be able to make these educational plans. She is not stating she wants to prevent their son from seeing his dad. My two cents regarding complete strangers.
I agree. I feel like some people are implying that Halle is being extra or dramatic but since when do parents get a whole summer off from parenting? I don’t think she can legally make decisions like this without him so he needs to communicate.
I’m not understanding what’s happening here. The kid can play and practice soccer and get a tutor. It doesn’t need to be an either or scenario.
There are also likely cultural issues at play, Oliver is French not American. And well they raise they children differently and their education system is different, they typically don’t put labels on young kids and take a more wait and see approach.
Halle also constantly fought her daughters father over silly stuff, so it’s hard to know if this is legitimate or just the actions of a control freak who doesn’t understand that the other parent has a right to make decisions too.
The cultural difference argument is null to me. He knew what kind of parent she was before he had a kid with her and before he married her. If she’s a control freak, he knew that too.
Like a lot of people in the haze of a relationship he probably sided with Halle and assumed the other guy was the problem. We may never know and there are still going to be cultural differences. Also, more importantly, I’m still curious as to why the kid cannot both play soccer and get a tutor. LOL. It’s clearly not a financial issue so what’s the issue there?
The issues with Gabriel Aubry were not the same. He wanted to give his daughter an equal lifestyle. Since he could not afford what Halle can afford. And her child support payments were enormous. And she felt he wasn’t working so he could just get Daddy Support.
Sounds like Olivier just wants to push his potential sports career over academic. Which is causing friction in her relationship with her son.
She’s doing the right thing trying to make sure her son has a well-balanced education and sports curriculum. She’s fighting for her child even if he is fighting against her. She can see further down the road than he can at his age.
After a certain point, Gabriel wasn’t working because Olivier rearranged his face. Seemingly egged on by Halle. His face was his moneymaker. So he had every right to ask for more. I know we don’t get all uppity about it when a woman does it.
“Specifically, Berry claims that Maceo would “act out” toward her following “longer periods of custody” with his father”
Berry has a history of parenting drama, but I think the above is a pretty big red flag re: the dad’s parenting. I know this is just anecdote, but: my 8-year-old is neglected by her father when she’s at his place (he parks her in front of the TV all weekend, won’t help her brush her hair so she looks unkempt when I get her back, does not hug her, can’t be bothered to pack lunch so she has to eat the disgusting free lunch at school, etc.) She told me that when she’s at his house, she doesn’t feel loved. When she comes back to me, she’s a mess. She acts out, she’s upset, she’s punching the sofa, etc., and it takes days to get her back on track.
Big hugs to you Lucy and your little one. Every child should know they are cherished by both their parents.
I don’t know, I was solidly team Gabriel, especially after the thanksgiving punching incident.
She was horrible to him.
Unfortunately for Halle, her past running to courts for everything makes her seem an unreliable narrator, like someone above also said.
She could be advocating, she could be forcing her kid into a label he doesn’t need to fulfil some strange need of hers to control. It happens.
Team kids, both of them.
Yep. Unfortunately, I side eye anything coming from her as it pertains to the kids. She drug her daughter’s father through the mud and when all else failed she labeled him a racist and tried to move their kid to France. Oliver participating in that nonsense and beat up the guy so bad it hastened the end of his modeling career. So this might just be Oliver’s karma.
I am still not understanding why this kid can’t both play soccer and get a tutor if needed. Also, why I’m confused and side eyeing this whole motion.
May the kids be alright! Yikes.