Nicolas Cage's Son Avoids Jail, Gets Mental Health Diversion for Alleged Assault on Mom (2025)

Weston Coppola Cage, the adult son of actors Nicolas Cage and Christina Fulton, was granted a two-year mental health diversion program Wednesday to resolve two felony assault charges alleging he “snapped” and violently attacked his mother and a friend outside at his apartment complex last year.

“Mr. Cage does suffer from an eligible mental health disorder. I’m satisfied it was a significant factor in the commission of the charged offenses,” Los Angeles County Judge Enrique Monguia said at a morning hearing. “It’s obvious he was suffering a breakdown at the time.”

Weston’s lawyer asked for the diversion after saying his client had received intensive inpatient and outpatient treatment following the incident on April 28, 2024. The lawyer said Weston had changed doctors and had only just started a new medication at the time of the alleged assaults. He said his client has been sober since his arrest in the criminal case.

“He hasn’t felt this good in years. He’s in a good head space, about to get married. He moved away from the location living in before and is definitely making progress,” lawyer Michael A. Goldstein said. The judge said if Weston follows his treatment plan and doctors’ orders for the next two years, and “stays out of trouble,” the case could be dismissed in April 2027.

Weston’s mother, Christina Fulton, attended the hearing and said she supported diversion over prison. But she asked the judge to require another couple months of inpatient treatment and suggested two facilities in Tennessee and Connecticut. She then recounted the alleged assault in graphic detail, telling the judge it nearly killed her.

“Nothing prepared me for April 28th, 2024, the night my son almost took my life,” Fulton told the court. She recalled being at a dinner when she received a call saying Weston was “setting his apartment on fire.” Fulton said she rushed to her son’s building, where he allegedly greeted her in an angry and manic state. She said he was “furious,” wouldn’t accept the cheeseburger she brought to him and “snapped” when a car pulled up and rattled a gate. She said he grabbed her by her hair, shoved her to the floor of an elevator and got on top of her, “crushing” and “suffocating” her with his body weight.

“He shoved his thumb in my eye socket. The pain was excruciating. My vision went black,” she said. “I was losing consciousness.” Fulton said that when the elevator opened, Weston then attacked his best friend, the other alleged victim in the criminal case. Fulton said Weston returned to her, slammed her into a wall, stood on her neck at one point and was strangling her as the friend tried to pull Weston away.

“If it wasn’t for [the friend] who risked his life to save me, my family would have buried me, and Weston would have gone to prison,” she told the court. She repeatedly expressed love for her son but said she remains fearful because he hasn’t expressed any “remorse or accountability” toward her. Weston looked straight ahead, not responding to her words.

“I’ve been demonized for being a good mother,” Fulton said. “Now I stand here, pleading for one thing: that he gets the help he deserves. Please help my son.”

The judge ended the hearing by ordering the mental health diversion and saying Weston is prohibited from harassing his alleged victims and possessing any weapons for the next two years. A progress report hearing was set for July.

Weston appeared in court, out of custody, after posting a $150,000 bond. In a related lawsuit filed in February, Fulton sued Nicolas Cage for negligence, claiming he enabled their son’s “reckless” behavior by bailing him out of jail, supporting him financially without requiring treatment and drinking alcohol with him “despite knowing his substance abuse issues and history of violent outbursts.”

“The allegations by Christina Fulton against Nicolas Cage are absurd and frivolous,” Cage’s lawyer said in a statement previously obtained by Rolling Stone. “Weston Coppola is a 34-year-old man.Mr. Cage does not control Weston’s behavior in any manner and is not responsible for Weston’s alleged assault of his mother.”

Fulton dismissed the Longlegs actor as a defendant last month. She’s still suing their son for assault, battery and emotional distress. According to the complaint, the alleged assault “derailed” Fulton’s life, forcing her to drop out of a Netflix series and promotional events related to her skincare and fitness ventures.