Halle Berry’s ex-husband says she constructed a ‘twisted narrative’ in custody bid

Malia Mendez | (TNS) Los Angeles Times

Halle Berry’s ex-husband Olivier Martinez is condemning her recent bid for sole custody of their 10-year-old son.

The former couple last year finalized their eight-year divorce, with the Oscar winner agreeing to pay $8,000 a month in child support in a joint custody agreement. But earlier this month, the “Catwoman” star filed for sole custody of their son, Maceo, citing Martinez’s continued refusal to be a “productive and engaged co-parent” and “participate in joint decision making regarding our son,” according to court documents reviewed by The Times.

Martinez in a pair of filings this week accused his ex-wife of constructing a “twisted narrative” to edge him out of his co-parenting role. He also requested the court postpone a custody hearing scheduled for Sept. 10, granting him sufficient time to disprove her “false claims” about him — namely, that he is “unreasonably oppositional” and has neglected to show up for mandatory co–parenting therapy.

Berry responded in a filing that such a delay would cause “detrimental harm” to their son, whom she said has fallen severely behind in school and is in “critical need for time-sensitive interventions to ensure his success in school and in life.”

The rising fifth-grader has been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, mild dyslexia and a specific learning disorder.

While Martinez claimed in his dual filings that his ex-wife was attempting to put their son on psychiatric medication without his permission, Berry called that an “impossibility, since for over a year Olivier has interfered with Halle’s ability to obtain even an evaluation upon which any recommendation would be based.”

“His declaration makes it clear that he is either oblivious to Maceo’s challenges or he carelessly disregards them — either way, he continues to illustrate why he should not be permitted to make decisions for this child,” Berry said in her filing.

In her prior Aug. 16 filing, Berry also accused Martinez of “frustrating clinical decisions” by ignoring requests to approve interventions and disqualifying professional opinions.

Berry said she and Martinez previously attempted to resolve matters in a series of voluntary settlement conferences — which she bankrolled — but by their final meeting in February, she felt litigation was the only path forward.

“Olivier does not acknowledge that he is bound by Court Orders and continues to interfere with my custodial rights, withhold information from me, and make unilateral decisions on Maceo’s behalf,” she said, adding that escalating her actions was in her son’s “best interest.”

Martinez instead interprets Berry’s sole custody request as a concerted effort to “game the system” and “obtain a trial result by ambush,” bankrupting him in the process, he said in a Friday filing. (Berry has refused to pay Martinez’s legal fees, despite what he called an “extremely lopsided financial circumstance between the two parties.”)

“After using her extraordinarily high income for months to try to create a false narrative regarding Respondent’s cooperation with Petitioner, to which Respondent has not had the funds to respond to every letter and every email, she is now trying to use her ability to pay any and all amounts of her own attorneys’ fees to trample on Respondent’s rights and gain sole decision-making ability regarding crucial decisions in Maceo’s life,” Martinez’s filing said.

“Respondent cannot be forced to give up his right to discovery or his right to have sufficient time to prepare his response simply because Petitioner is attempting to force and railroad him into submission,” the document continued.

In addition to a continuance, Martinez has requested that the court set a date for a hearing regarding the costs he anticipates incurring — and being unable to cover — as a result of Berry’s new litigation.