Halle Berry is pushing back against allegations that she physically abused her 13-year-old son, Maceo.
In a court declaration filed Monday, Oct. 5, the actress denied claims made by her former husband, Olivier Martinez, who alleged that she choked their son during a Sept. 26 altercation.
“I have never physically, emotionally, or otherwise abused Maceo,” Berry stated in the filing. “I would never hurt our child.”
Martinez sought sole custody last week, alleging that Berry attacked Maceo during a dispute at her home. According to his account, she placed the boy in a headlock and choked him.
Berry’s court filing presents a sharply different version of the incident.
The actress said, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE, that she entered Maceo’s bedroom to ask him to stop playing a virtual reality game. She began filming as he continued playing, and the encounter eventually turned into what she characterized as “playfully roughhousing.”
Although Berry acknowledged that the exchange became more physical, she insisted that she never grabbed Maceo by the neck, choked him, interfered with his breathing or instructed him to tap out.
Berry also provided the court with video clips and text messages that she said challenge Martinez’s description of what occurred.
In one message to Martinez, Berry wrote that she felt “terrible about what happened.”
She said the message reflected her regret that the evening had ended in an argument, not an admission that she had injured their son. Berry further stated that Maceo showed no marks on his neck or elsewhere on his body when he left to spend the remainder of the weekend with Martinez.
While denying the allegations involving her son, Berry also referenced her personal history as a survivor of domestic violence.
“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 conflict has temporarily altered the former couple’s parenting arrangement. On Oct. 1, a Los Angeles County judge issued Martinez a temporary restraining order but rejected his request to bar Berry from seeing Maceo entirely.
The order permits Berry to spend time with her son on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., as well as Saturdays and Sundays during those same hours.
Berry has asked the court to reinstate the 50/50 custody schedule she and Martinez agreed to when their divorce was finalized in August 2023.
The next hearing on the temporary restraining order is set for Oct. 16.
Berry and Martinez welcomed Maceo in October 2013. Berry also has an 18-year-old daughter, Nahla, with her former partner Gabriel Aubry.