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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.
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
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
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
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
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
