Halle Berry, Martinez: Lawyer Denies Court Walkout
Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez both testified at a Los Angeles custody hearing over their 13-year-old son, and Martinez's lawyer rejects claims he left angrily.
The third day of the custody hearing over the 13-year-old son of Halle Berry and French actor Olivier Martinez brought testimony from both sides at a Los Angeles court. The actress continued her testimony, and Martinez took the witness stand late in the day. His lawyer immediately denied that his client stormed out of the courtroom in anger.
The boy is at the center of the dispute. Martinez claims Berry physically abused and choked him, which the actress denies. The minor son is not named in this article.
Who has testified so far?
The son testified for about four hours on Monday. After him, John Hay, the principal of the boy’s school, appeared before the court. The parents, Berry and Martinez, were next.
Berry called her fiance, musician Van Hunt, and her daughter Nahla Aubry as witnesses, with Nahla set to testify by video link. Martinez’s team wants Nahla not to testify orally at all. They argue she is biased and that her testimony is not essential, since the dispute concerns only the boy.
Nahla has already submitted a written statement to the court. In it, as reported, she defends her mother, describes her as caring, and says she has never seen violence or aggression toward her younger half-brother.
What did Van Hunt tell the court?
Hunt said he saw neither redness nor bruising on the boy’s neck after the disputed incident. According to him, there was no physical altercation at Berry’s home that day, only harmless family roughhousing and teasing. He added that Martinez had described it wrongly and exaggerated it in his petition.
The lawyer: we asked for a bathroom break
After the testimony, reports surfaced that Martinez had left the courtroom angrily. His lawyer, Patrick Baghdasarian, told TMZ that this is not true. According to him, he and his client simply asked for a bathroom break and were given three minutes. He added that Martinez is satisfied with how the proceedings have gone, at least for now, so there is no reason for anger.
Reporters waited for Berry and Hunt outside the court. The actress did not answer questions.
What has already been decided?
In early October, the court granted Martinez’s emergency request for temporary custody of the son. Since then, Berry has been able to see the boy only during the day.
The actress is seeking an urgent end to the temporary measures and a return to the August 2023 agreement. Under that agreement, she and Martinez had equal joint custody, and Berry had the final say if they disagreed. The court will decide whether the temporary measures become permanent.
