Halle Berry’s daughter and fiancé took the stand Monday as her court fight with Olivier Martinez moved toward closing arguments.
The Halle Berry custody case took a deeply personal turn on Monday, when the Oscar winner’s 18-year-old daughter testified in support of her mother. Nahla Aubry appeared virtually behind closed doors as Berry’s battle with ex-husband Olivier Martinez entered its second week in Los Angeles Superior Court, per Page Six.
Nahla did not arrive at this moment out of nowhere. Earlier this month, she filed a declaration backing Berry, stating she has never seen her mother act violently toward her younger brother, per Page Six. On Monday she said it from the witness stand — or, more precisely, from a screen, with the courtroom cleared and the details kept private.
Berry’s fiancé, Van Hunt, was back on Monday too. The 56-year-old singer returned for cross-examination after finishing the first week of testimony, per Page Six. Both he and Nahla were believed to have testified for less than an hour each, and after a lunch break, closing arguments began — again behind closed doors. Closing arguments will continue Tuesday, and a ruling is expected this week, per Page Six.
So what is actually being decided? Martinez, 60, is seeking a domestic violence restraining order and sole custody of the former couple’s 13-year-old son, Maceo, per Page Six. A judge granted him a temporary restraining order on Oct. 1 and awarded him temporary primary custody, limiting Berry’s time with Maceo while the case unfolds.
Berry has vehemently denied the allegations. Her attorney, Marina Beck, previously told Page Six that Martinez’s claims were “entirely meritless and deliberately misleading.” In her own filings, Berry accused Martinez of interfering with Maceo’s education and therapeutic care, undermining her parenting decisions and involving their son in their legal dispute, per Page Six. She is asking the judge to dismiss the restraining order, lift the temporary restrictions on her time with Maceo, give her sole legal custody over education and medical decisions, and restore their previous 50-50 physical custody arrangement.
The first week set the tone. Both Berry and Martinez testified behind closed doors, and Maceo himself testified for nearly four hours on the first day, with the judge limiting his remarks to the restraining order request, per Page Six. On Thursday, Berry’s lawyer pressed Martinez about a 2024 sworn statement in which he denied any history of domestic violence between the former couple — though his attorney later argued the declaration was only made to address legal fees.
There is a long road behind this courtroom. Berry and Martinez met filming “Dark Tide” in 2010, married in France on July 13, 2013, and welcomed Maceo on Oct. 5, 2013, per Page Six. They announced their separation in October 2015, were declared legally single in December 2016, and did not fully settle their divorce and related disputes until 2023 — nearly eight years after filing.
That history is exactly why Monday landed differently. This is no longer just two exes arguing through lawyers. It is an adult daughter choosing to be heard, a fiancé returning to be questioned again, and a teenage son at the center of it all — with a judge’s ruling now days away.
The 247 Take — Whatever the ruling, Nahla testifying changes the story: this stopped being a tabloid custody fight and became a family speaking for itself, in private, where it counts.
Sources: Page Six
