Halle Berry, accused of strangling her son by her ex

BarcelonaHalle Berry has had the bad luck of having her name associated with a phenomenon that is not exactly positive. Just as it happened to Barbra Streisand with the Streisand effect –which consists of making so many efforts to hide something from the public eye that, with the stir, you end up capturing the attention of more people than if you hadn't made any effort to hide it–, she has given her name to the Halle Berry effect. This is used to describe the plummeting prestige of actors and actresses who, after winning an Oscar, begin to make poor professional decisions and end up squandering in a short time the enormous admiration they had garnered with the statuette.

This is what happened to Berry after taking home an academy award in 2002, when she became the first Black woman in history to win the award in the best actress category, and decided to star in films hated by critics such as Catwoman or Gothika. Sadly, her milestone has not been repeated during the 24 years that have passed without Hollywood considering that any other woman of African descent has deserved the coveted distinction (there have been, however, awards for best supporting actresses). If viewed with today's eyes it is already outrageous that in 2022 no Black woman had been a winner in this category in awards that at that time already had 73 years of history, it is even more implausible that, subsequently, there hasn't been any other if not for pure racism.

Upon receiving the award, the actress said that that night a door was opening for women like her, but, lo and behold, what was really happening is that she had slipped through the mail slot, since that door is still as closed as ever. This is not to mention that, in the midst of the resurgence of fascism around the world, the door is more closed than ever.

Eclipsed by her own life

With peaks of global fame that many have desired and few have achieved, throughout various stages of her life, Berry's impact as an artist has been harmed by her turbulent personal life, which for some time has garnered more headlines than her professional life. After two failed marriages –to baseball player David Justice and singer-songwriter Eric Benét– and a controversial separation from Canadian model Gabriel Aubry in which there were accusations of violence on her part –and a bloody custody battle for the daughter they had, Nahla–, Olivier Martinez, a Parisian model and actor who made her pay very dearly for any joys he might have given her, came into her life.

When they had been together for a year and she was pregnant with the child they have in common, Maceo, the couple got married in the French capital. It was the year 2013. The story stood firm until 2015, when they announced that they had had enough of each other. The relationship was fleeting, but the non-relationship has been eternal. Since then, the couple has not been out of the courts. From the time they announced the breakup until they signed it, no less than fifteen months passed. Definitely, that was a bad omen of everything that awaited them, since the signing of the divorce was even worse. Immensely worse: it took eight years to arrive, until 2023.

Custody battle

But as if that were not enough torture, they also fought in court for the custody of their son, who turned thirteen this week. Since they broke up, she has been the one covering all the expenses even though custody has been shared equally. They were living in the USA and she paid him $8,000 a month so he could support the child when they were together and, to secure her ex's freedom, she also signed an agreement stating that she would pay him 4.3% of any income exceeding $2 million. He must not have had any desire to work ever again.

But this status quo lasted only a year. When they had been at peace for a year, in 2024, the actress asked the courts to obtain full custody of the minor because she saw Martinez as a "turbulent and harmful" person who had had a very negative impact on the child to the point of having caused "behavioral and learning problems". Problems that, as she informed the justice system, could not be solved because the boy's father stood between him and the therapists they had been hiring to help him.

Accused of strangling Maceo

That was a stab in the back for Martinez, who has returned to it this same week. According to what People has published, the actor has requested a restraining order against Berry for himself and his son in court because she allegedly tried to strangle his son. "She physically abused our son, Maceo: she jumped on him, put her hands around his neck and strangled him," says Martinez's lawsuit, which for now has been successful, as the judge has provisionally granted it until a final decision is made. The serious events that the model now denounces, however, allegedly took place in December. He also includes in the lawsuit that there have been previous episodes, events that he had never reported. "These other incidents include additional physical assaults against our son, as well as verbal and emotional abuse by the defendant towards me," he explains in this regard.

Obviously, in the face of such serious accusations, Berry's legal representatives—who, like Martinez, is currently sixty years old—have already responded that it is all a lie: "To say it has no basis whatsoever and is deliberately misleading is an understatement," they state. "Fortunately, Ms. Berry is accustomed to this type of scandalous behavior from Mr. Martinez and, although she is deeply hurt, she will not allow this to deter her from fighting for Maceo's best interests and giving him the love and support he needs," they added.

Sad pasts

The truth is that in terms of violence they have very different pasts. Unfortunately for her, it is as a victim. Daughter of a marriage in which her father was violent towards her mother, throughout her life she has had some relationships in which she has been a victim of gender-based violence. As she explained some time ago, an assault by an ex of hers to the head left her deaf in one ear and Aubry psychologically abused her at the same time that he rejected the fact that the daughter they had had was mixed-race. This is also added to a restraining order that a judge granted her when divorcing David Justice due to a violent episode that the athlete staged in the middle of the street in front of her house.

Martinez has also been publicly linked to violence but not with her. Specifically, the fight with Aubry is well remembered. When Martinez was still dating Berry, Aubry went to their house to bring little Nahla. In those short moments, the two models brawled in the street. The spark that would have ignited the fire would have been that the couple wanted to go to live in France and Aubry would have refused, which would have invited Martinez to violence. It also emerged that Martinez had allegedly threatened to kill Aubry the day before. Berry's then-ex came out of the fight with his face a mess and a broken rib. Martinez, with a bandaged hand. Everything points to the fact that the Frenchman's war against the actress for the custody of his child will last at least 5 more years. And from the age of eighteen, the child who remains after growing up in this environment will be the one who will star in all the headlines. A story already written. Sadly written.