Halle Berry is denying allegations that she physically abused her 13-year-old son, Maceo.
In a declaration filed Monday, Oct. 5, the actress directly rejected her ex-husband Olivier Martinez’s claims that she choked their son during an alleged Sept. 26 incident.
“I have never physically, emotionally, or otherwise abused Maceo,” Berry wrote. “I would never hurt our child.”
Martinez filed for sole custody last week and accused Berry of physically attacking Maceo during a disagreement at her home. He alleged that the actress put their son in a headlock and choked him.
Berry, however, gave the court a different account of what happened.
According to the filing, obtained by PEOPLE, she went into Maceo’s room to tell him to stop playing a virtual reality game. She started recording him while he kept playing, and the two eventually engaged in what she described as “playfully roughhousing.”
While Berry acknowledged that the interaction escalated, she denied putting her hands around Maceo’s neck, choking him, restricting his breathing or telling him to tap out.
She also submitted video footage and text messages that she says contradict Martinez’s account.
In one text message, Berry told Martinez that she felt “terrible about what happened.”
She explained that she was upset their evening had ended in conflict and denied that the text was an admission that she had harmed their son. Berry maintained that Maceo had no marks on his neck or body when he left to spend the rest of the weekend with his father.
Berry pointed to her own experience as a victim of domestic violence while denying that she had abused Maceo.
“I am not a perpetrator of violence,” she wrote. “I am a victim of domestic violence, and I help victims of domestic violence.”
The custody dispute has already resulted in a temporary change to the former couple’s arrangement. On Oct. 1, a Los Angeles County judge granted Martinez a temporary restraining order but declined his request to prevent Berry from having contact with Maceo altogether.
Under the temporary order, Berry can see her son on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays during the same hours.
She has since asked the court to restore the 50/50 custody arrangement she and Martinez agreed to when their divorce was finalized in August 2023.
A hearing on the restraining order is scheduled for Oct. 16.
Berry and Martinez welcomed Maceo in October 2013. She is also mom to 18-year-old daughter Nahla, whom she shares with ex Gabriel Aubry.
