Over the weekend, actress Kelly Rutherford held a fundraiser in the Hamptons for her charity, The Children’s Justice Campaign, which aims to bring awareness and solutions to the issue of injustice in family court. The event was thrown by Hamptons Magazine and held at the home of Joan and George Hornig. The big names there were Christie Brinkley, Sonja Morgan (of RHONY) and Bridget Marks. Marks is a former Playboy model who lost custody of her then 4 year-old twin daughters to their father, married millionaire John Aylsworth, in 2004. She was accused of making up false allegations of child abuse. Marks eventually regained custody.
I mentioned last week that I think the cause is a worthy one but that Kelly is not the best face to champion it. As yet another overview of her complicated custody battle, she wasn’t willing to co-parent with her German ex husband, Daniel Giersch, she had a hand in getting him deported, and the kids were sent to live with him in France. Kelly is claiming that her children, son Hermes, 7, and daughter Helena, 5, were deported. Her attempt to appeal her case last week was overturned by a federal judge. The judge has promised to look into Giersch’s immigration status. Kelly’s children are supposed to return to their father tomorrow, August 19th.
Kelly’s lawyer has mentioned that his client may keep the children with her in New York, violating a court order to return them to their father in France. Judging from a recent interview, Kelly intends to put the kids on a plane. She told Extra that she doesn’t speak negatively about her ex to the kids, but that she tells them she’s fighting for them. This interview is probably meant to counter the claims that Kelly is engaging in parental alienation. Here’s what she said:
Kelly told special correspondent Baruch Shemtov that she is feeling very fortunate to spend the summer with her kids in the States. “Most parents are really happy to send their kids to camp in the summer. I’m really happy and my kids are really happy just to be together. We really value the time that we have together.”
Rutherford explained, “They’re aware and as they get older they’re more and more aware… They’re really in tune with how they feel about it and at least in my home, they are really allowed to express how they feel about it. I tell them I’m doing everything I can when they go back to France this week. My son said, ‘Mommy, are you still going to be fighting for us?’ and I said. Absolutely, every day.’”
She added, “I do my best to say, ‘Enjoy your time in France, that’s the important thing. Mommy will be there. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here, and I’m here to listen to you. I’m here to understand. This is something that hopefully your Dad and I can work out together.’ I say, ‘Go be with your dad, love your dad.’ I talk about his good qualities because I want them to grow up happy and healthy, and I know if I say negative things or act in a negative way, it impacts them and their sprit and their soul and their future… I’m doing my best to take the high road as I cry in the shower.”
When asked if Kelly would consider moving to France, she replied, “All my ex needs to do is reapply for a visa and hasn’t done it, and he would be here. I don’t know why three U.S. citizens would have to move to a country where none of us have any connection whatsoever to appease their dad.”
The bottom line is that Rutherford is not going to give up. “I’m a mother. I’m always going to fight for my kids. I just don’t want my kids to grow up in a world that this is how justice is… I really think that the reason I started The Children’s Justice Campaign is to bring awareness around a system that really doesn’t seem to be acting in the best interest of children.”
So Kelly isn’t going to move to France because her ex won’t apply for a visa to return to the states. If she moves to France she’s giving in, and that’s more important to her than being closer to her kids on a daily basis. I’m not saying her ex is right or that this ruling to send her kids to France was fair. I just don’t understand why she hasn’t been more willing to co-parent. It’s possible there’s more to this story than we’re hearing, but as I’ve said if that was the case wouldn’t she have revealed it to the press by now?
photo credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet
She is completely out of her mind.
Yah! And sorry to say it but this party looks like a coalition of “asshole moms that will make a divorce ruthless and ugly and Blonde…very East Side Blonde”
She won’t say anything negative to the kids, but she’s made a big spectacle of their custody battle and ripped him every chance she can in the press.
Also does she fancy herself at some sort of Goopy socialite? Because I only know her as a C list actress from goofy teen soap dramas.
Considering the ages of the children (5, 7), I think she talks to them about the custody issue way too much. I don’t think she is being honest about her involvement in getting the ex’s visa revoked. I’m a family lawyer and I think she should move to France in order to build a day-to-day relationship with her children and build her case for full-time custody from there. It’s not like her career is going great in the US, so why not?
Sarah, she should hire you as her counsel because she’s gotten some sh@t legal advice.
Or maybe she chose to ignore the sound legal advice that counsel gave her and went ahead with her folly.
@ holly hobby & Green is Good : most likely she is ignoring the good advice a competent lawyer gave her.
she’s apparently said something less than kosher to her kids if her son asked if she’s still going to be fighting for them
Omg, I just wrote about that down jn th thead before I was you comment. She has definitely done parental alienation for a child to ask that.
Before I read you comment… Thread not thead, silly autocorrect!
Christie Brinkley isn’t a good face for this cause either. Like Kelly, she made sure her custody case was public so she could earn sympathy, but never thought about what it would do to her daughter.
Kelly is shady. She had a shady first marriage, and shady second marriage and now she is pulling this. I don’t think she is doing this for her kids, she just wants to win.
Agree with your comments about both women.
Agreed. First thought when I saw the top photo was ‘two nuts espousing a worthy cause’
100 percent, Jenn.
Agree it’s all about winning. If it weren’t, if it were really all about being with her kids, she’d be living in France so she could see them all the time.
Her response to that seems to be “well why should I have to?” and the answer is because that’s where her kids are.
Let’s not forget Christie dumped her other husband, Ricky Taubman and then proceeded to erase him from their son’s life. I believe at the time of the divorce she changed the son’s name and had Peter Cooke adopt him.
It’s ironic that the two women supposedly championing justice for children – Christie and Kelly – are well-known parental alienators. I’m surprised Halle Berry didn’t join them in the photo-op, make it a trio.
I find it hard to believe she’s not saying negative things to her kids. I find anything she says hard to believe at this point.
I completely agree. And even if she isn’t saying the negative things directly to the kids, they pick up on it. And they overhear things. As a mom who has been a real victim of parental alienation, she makes me sick. The little seeds that bitter parents plant in their children bear bitter fruit.
Yeah, no way does a 5/7 year old ask their mother if she is “still fighting for them” unless she is giving them the idea that a fight is going on.
Her kids are dual citizens right? They’re not just US citizens
they are dual citizens (US and German). They live in France/Monaco because it was a shorter trip for her to spend time with them (on her ex’s dime) in France instead of flying over to Germany. This whole “all he needs to do is apply for another visa” and move over to the US stuff from her is BS. She is the one who made sure he lost his visa and was deported; being here on a visa is temporary and she can always try to make trouble to get him deported again. All she needs to do is spend time in France if she wants to spend more time with her children when it is his time for custody (he’s allowed it and paid for it). It’s not like he’s prevented the kids from coming to the US to spend time with her, though I wouldn’t blame him if he demanded all future visits with her be conducted in France (heck, I’m not sure I’d ever give her unsupervised visits after this)
She’s acting like her kids are only US citizens and that’s just spreading false information.
She says he just needs to apply for a visa but really she just needs to apply for one to go live near three German citizens
I’m sick of her twisting stuff for public sympathy. I’m so glad the judge saw through her crap
It’s not like he can walk up to Walgreen’s and get a visa. Because he was deported, you know the US govt won’t let him obtain another visa that easily. Also, a Visa isn’t a permanent solution. He would have to actually apply for citizenship (which is a long shot) or marry another US citizen.
Yes, the argument could be turned around to ‘3 French citizens need to come to the US to live in a country they are unfamiliar with’. Plus, the kids live in Europe now–how familiar are they with the US compared to where they go to school, etc?
Wouldn’t she want to move to France to see her kids more often?
I always feel like there’s more to a story but I have to say if it’s coming from her mouth I just don’t really trust it.
In more her ex-husband is okay to pay all ( her flight ticket,her car,her car,her food,her hotel ) when she comes to visit their kids.
I would move pretty much anywhere if it meant being close to my kids.
The organization is just sketchy, nothing on their website or donate page on where donations are going, programs supported, etc. Went to their donate page and it is set up under another foundation that has no IRS 990 posted to review programs, etc. I’d love to see the income/expenses from the fundraiser and where any income is being spent.
Oh my God, I just looked at the website. If you can call it that. THAT is the most unprofessional thing I’ve ever seen. A massive media campaign? That’s what I’m supposed to be supporting? You’re absolutely right, this is ridiculous, there is NO info there. Just a “mission statement”, written by … who knows, and a Donate button. WTF?
It somehow reminds me of fan fiction websites in the 90’s.
If she just founded the organization, it will be about a year before the first 990 is submitted. You can, however, check to see if she has an approved 501(c)(3) at irs.gov
I know but this foundation is being run through another foundation, the Edward Charles Foundation, that has been around longer and also has no 990 on file. The website for that one is also login only, with no general information, about us, etc,
I bet this is a tax shelter to fund her Hampton’s lifestyle. I’m sorry but she won’t getting one red cent from me. I’d rather donate to a reputable charity.
The US Trustee should really look into how she can still the good life during bankruptcy. I hope she gets nailed for bankruptcy fraud.
Huh. I don’t know how declaring bankruptcy works in the U.S. or what it means for someone’s lifestyle but here in Germany, a person can’t declare bankruptcy unless they’re not only broke but in debt. And there is NO way to live a life like that during the next few years.
When someone files for bk in the US, they have declare their assets as well as their debt. The US Trustee is in charge of overseeing the bankrupt estate (the person who files bankruptcy) and they are responsible for selling off any assets in order to repay creditors. If they get wind that people are hiding assets (not declared in the initial filing), then they go after them for bankruptcy fraud. It becomes fraud when you have the means to pay off your debt but instead of doing so you file for bankruptcy and hope the court writes off your debt and you get to keep the more lucrative assets.
Theresa Giudice and her hubby are currently charged with bankruptcy fraud among other things.
Oh thanks! So it’s not completely different. It sounds almost the same. You need to be extremely careful over here though because even an expensive purse you walk around with can be seized. I’m not sure what happens if other people finance your lifestyle so maybe she’s just mooching off of someone.
Whoops, double post.
Not a great set of people supporting her cause. Brinkley is the queen of ex-bashing and made life extremely hard for her children as well as her ex during her divorce and subsequent court cases with him. Agree he’s a slime, but for the sake of your children, you keep your mouth shut. Not really sure what’s going on with Kelly, but based on coverage it looks as if Karma has played a role in her loss of custody.
Rutherford has joint custody. She never lost custody of her children. Her children live with the father because he is unable to come to the U.S and the judge allowed the children to live with him because of that. If Rutherford moved to Monaco, she would have her children 50% of the time too.
And since she won’t do that–I honestly don’t think that she wants those kids all that much. If her ex hadn’t fought for them, they’d probably be relegated to their nannies 24/7 until it’s time for a photo op (like they pretty much are now in their matching white clothing).
I mean, if my mom had 50% custody of me and my siblings, and my dad moved somewhere, anywhere–I know that she would do everything she could to be right with us. Because no one’s going to take her kids away from her. I know that she says if she and my dad ever divorced, and he moved, she would move right next door until we all became adults. Because when you have kids you need to put them first, and BE adults.
God, this woman makes me stabby.
Virgilia! Haven’t seen you in a while – how are things going?
Oh, I’m doing good. I’m still at my grandma’s down in TN for a few days longer—I’m at my godmother’s now, so I have wifi.
Things are going okay. My mom’s still doing her chemo treatments–she’s on a new drug that’s affecting her nerves…..she said it feels like pins and needles in her skin, and her feet and hands look bruised. She has another six weeks before her chemo treatments are done, and then she has a month of radiation to do.
But I’m heading back home tomorrow night–can’t wait to go. I miss my dog (she’s like my baby).
Good to hear your mom is at least pulling through with chemo. She sounds like one tough woman :).
I’m guessing TN is Tennessee?
Virgilia, make sure the doctor knows about the peripheral neuropathy (pins and needles) and if it’s getting worse. It can become permanent. Early studies have shown possible improvement with increased vitamin D, magnesium, and calcium, although it’s still inconclusive. Some anti convulsants and anti depressants (in small doses) can also be effective.
@Littlestar
YEP. It’s been raining all freaking day here….
—————–
Thanks paranormalgirl–didn’t know that.
Ugh. That old tramp, Sonja Morgan trying to act like she still has clout and money.
Yeah, she’s such an awful person. Can’t believed they called her a “big name.”
This is her last weekend with the kids. Since there are no pictures of the kids with her at this event, I think we can assume she attended without them. If that is the case, I’m puzzled why. The event is obviously not just for adults (eg. the 14 year old twins mentioned in the article are there). She has previously brought them to many media-covered events, but not this one?!
Wouldn’t she be seizing every chance to be with them, holding onto every minute until the Tuesday parting? I’m not shading, just genuinely curious, because last week I was thinking how soon Tuesday was going to roll around and how if it were me, I would go to bed every night just dreading that we Re one day closer to Tuesday.
+1 I was wondering the same thing.
She claims she is broke while fighting for her kids and filed bankruptcy. So does she have family money? A wealthy partner? What? She is spent the summer in the Hamptons. Where is the money coming from?
Well, I do think these people have a different definition of broke and I doubt she filed for bankruptcy but who knows. That can be verified, no? She seems cuckoo.
She filed for bankruptcy…but her idea of broke is different than mine.
I would really like to know that too. Summering in the Hamptons and shopping at Hermes doesn’t scream “broke” to me…..
I haven’t followed this story closely, but what I have read prior to this would suggest that she engineered her own problem in trying to cut their father out of her children’s lives. Big mistake. Not good for the children either. Unless the father is a real and present danger to the children he needs to be in their lives. And, believe me, I hated my ex with a super-sized hate, but I never interfered with his time with the kids and tried not to speak ill of him in their presence. I knew they’d reason out “the real story” when they grew up, and they did.
So the problem is her Ex won’t reapply for a Visa? Oh, woman please. Abide by the family court order , stop using your kids as weapons to punish your Ex, put on your adult diapers and shut up.
Does anybody think this “charity” is bogus, and Kelly R. deliberately planned this crap to coincide with her children’s departure?
I bet all the contributions got sucked up into the overhead of running this farce. Mostly on booze and food. Maybe a couple of pamphlets , too.
I just looked at their website…it doesn’t look very professional. I was expecting a whole lot more. They have a cover page that has a short article (that I could’ve wrote in an hour), and then they have a ‘donate now’ link–that goes to paypal. There are no other articles, nothing about what they do to actually fight for children’s rights….I would not donate a penny to that charity. They seem shady.
Yes. It’s all about appearances to her. She just did some spread in Hamptons’ magazine with her kids. She’s ridiculous.
Whenever Kelly “quotes” her children, it never sounds like anything children of that age would actually know how to communicate so clearly. Me thinks she projects too much.
Or worse, she’s tainting their thoughts and emotions.
This life IS their normal they don’t know any different, unless she is telling them that their childhood is wrong, unfair, etc. Really, how would 5 and 7 year old children that have spent most of their lives with their father in France comprehend that this is not typical. It is for them.
Like others have said, she could solve all of the problems that she created for herself by moving. She has that luxury that most divorced mothers will never have. Plus, it’s not as if living in France is akin to living in a third world country. I find her offensive for many different reasons. Not living in reality and not acknowledging her role in actively destroying her children’s right to easy access both of their parents is only two of a very long list of issues that I have with this drama Queen. Why would he attempt to move back to this country after what she has put him and their children through? If the roles were reversed we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
This woman is a manipulating nightmare. It’s beginning to sound like they should only have visitation with her and he has grounds to take her to court in France and seek full custody. It speaks volumes about him as a parent that he has not done so. However, if she continues to act in such a deceitful manner in public, and no telling what must she be like in private, it seems at some point to be in the children’s best interest to ensure they have limited contact with this woman as they become more cognizant of her dysfunction and limitations as a nurturing parent.
She is lucky that she’s a woman. I remember this very well because it was around this time, two or three years ago that this custody agreement was put into place–it was on the news where I am. I remember because I was watching it with my mom and aunts and they were VERY sympathetic towards her–because the story was basically slanted towards her…she lost custody of her kids and her ex was taking them away to France. It was very, very sympathetic–‘babies ripped from their mother’s arms’ type news report.
i’m happy to go to monaco and watch those kids. you would think their mother would feel the same.
Considering she had a hand in his visa being revoked, I think she’d have made it very public if there were more to the story that painted her husband in a bad light.
I agree. I’m just confused–because if he really was doing something illegal, then he wouldn’t be just deported….he would’ve faced further charges, either from the US or his home country. But he didn’t. And all she’s been able to say is that he was deported. Nothing else.
All these woman look alike do they all have the same plastic surgeon?
She’s completely deluded. This is a situation entirely of her own creation. Unfortunately, her kids have to reap what she has sown.
I think that she wants to keep the kids to herself because he divorced her. Or, rather he wanted the divorce. Just my guess….I’m reminded of one of my mom’s customers. She works as a massage therapist, so she has ALL kinds of people telling her all their business while she works on them.
She had a male patient come in once. And he started talking. Saying that he had to spend a ton of time in court (and money) because his ex fiancee was trying to keep his son away from him–permanently. Basically he and his ex had been engaged, had a toddler son together, and basically their relationship wasn’t working out (for whatever reason), and so he wanted out. So they broke off the engagement and their relationship. But he still was supporting his son, and spending time with him–but she was trying to completely cut him out of his son’s life because he wasn’t ready to be married.
Which is just so UGH. I mean, it’s bad enough now that a lot of guys will just abandon their kids once they get divorced–my own sperm donor did this. His first ex wife and him had a son together…after they divorced he have anything to do with my brother until his ex contacted him to give up his paternal rights so that her new husband could adopt him. And he did it.
did he leave her? I got the impression she dumped him and then, summarily, did everything she could do to cut him out of her and her children (including not letting him know when she gave birth to the younger child and refusing to put his name as father on the birth certificate even after she was ordered by the court to do so)
Oh, I’m not sure if Kelly Rutherford left him or not–just my impression of the way she’s handling everything with custody is that he’s basically the one who wanted out, and so she wants to punish him for leaving her.
But I don’t know–it could be the other way around.
She left while she was pregnant with their second child amid rumors he was cheating on her.
@Tammy and holly hobby
THANKS! Okay–I didn’t know that (although I should’ve connected the dots, because of the birth certificate thing).
I wonder if she thought that she could do better….she seems like she’s that type (Miranda Kerr, anyone?). But even if he was cheating on her (does he even have a girlfriend right now or anything? I feel like if he did, she’d be bitching about that), that still doesn’t mean that she has a right to keep their kids away from him.
If I remember the press at the time, she dumped him while she was pregnant with the daughter. He was clueless about why. He didn’t up and leave her. She left him. We don’t know why and it was never disclosed.
I wonder if she thought she could grab a billionaire neighbor or something. She spends an awful amount of time in the Hamptons…I’m just spitballing, but if she thought she could do better, maybe the dude freaked out on her when she did kick her husband out. Like Katherine McPhee and Michael Morris. Morris was all about Katherine and how in lurve they were….until they got caught and then he was telling the press that she didn’t mean anything.
I’m not saying this happened, but with what I’ve been hearing about Kelly Rutherford..it wouldn’t surprise me.
So… Her child already asked if she is FIGHTING for him?! Hmm… The parental alienation is working.
I agree! All of her “quotes” about her children speak volumes about the parental alienation she is inflicting on them. Not only that, why is she even telling the press what her kids are supposedly saying?! Obviously privacy means nothing to Kelly Rutherford.
Exactly! Unless she truly thinks her former husband is a bad influence on their kids, I would give a pass that she is taking to the media. But I don’t give a pass for her sharing what her kids think.
I’ve no business reading these stories, same re Halle Berry, but jaysus have they no shame?
Prostituting kids like this, smearing her domestic grime over the media, and carrying on all the while like it’s a 5 page at-home feature for Hello magazine, posing with her barking mates.
No idea who she is, but she certainly brings to mind something the great Spike Milligan said, to the effect that there should be aptitude tests for parenthood. Poor kids.
+ a million
Do you know what a lot of women would give for their exes to even pay child support–let alone come and actually see their kids? It’s endless. And here this woman has a guy who’s paying for EVERYTHING for her to come and see and be with their kids. And she won’t do it.
This woman pisses me off so badly, it’s not even funny. My mom spent TWO years trying to get my dad to pay a hundred dollars a month in child support…for only six years (she wasn’t even trying to go for back child support for 12 years)….ugh.
So she already has the kids thinking it’s a fight rather than two adults sharing their kids? And the kids definitely do have a connection with Europe. Half their family is there. I’m sure they can speak French even if mom is too short-sighted to learn. The kids probably speak German also. How awful for them! She just sounds like more and more of a dolt the more she opens her mouth about this. She is exactly the sort of parent the charity is supposed to be against. If you divorce, you can’t just push the other parent out of the way and assume you get the kids full time. It just doesn’t work that way unless the other parent doesn’t want to be involved in their lives.
Kelly, Christy, Sonja…
One photo helluva full of crazy
Kelly Rutherford couldn’t find the high road with GPS coordinates and a map.
All this stupid remarks are amazing.
How easy do you think you get a permitted Visa in Monaco? How easy in Europe?
Did you not know what your goverment made with banks overseas? Did you not know what your goverment is doing in politics?
It is very hard for US citizens to obtain Visas in Europe with the exception of the UK.