Goran Visnjic, one of the cast members of the forever, er I mean “long running,” ER, has a bit of a lady problem on his hands. Well I guess he has a bigger problem as a result of the lady problem - a kid problem. The Croatian actor, once labeled People Magazine’s Sexiest Import, apparently has fathered a child with a Croatian woman named Mirela Rupic. Rupic filed a paternity suit against Visnjic after he refused to acknowledge that her 4-month-old daughter is his.

Rupic said she was originally expecting that Visnjic would take financial responsibility for their child, and Visnjic has been aware of her pregnancy from the start. However she said he would never legally acknowledge their daughter as his own, which would obviously leave the child unprotected if Visnjic ever decided to back out on his financial obligations. It appears relations have deteriorated even further since then.

“The suit, filed in Croatia on behalf of 36-year-old Mirela Rupic, claims the 34-year-old actor refused to acknowledge his paternal role and is asking for a DNA test to prove he needs to take responsibility.

Rupic’s attorney, Nenad Skare, told the Associated Press his client had hoped to reach a settlement with Visnjic, but he turned them down.”

[From eonline]

Visnjic married his wife Ivana Vrdoljak, a sculptor, in 1999 - the same year he joined the cast of ER. The couple adopted a newborn boy this past April.

Visnjic is also leaving ER at the end of the season. It seems like he didn’t give his bosses a ton of notice. According to Hollywood.com, “TV bosses want Visnjic to star in six more episodes, to allow them time to write him out of the storyline, which involves his relationship with Dr. Abby Lockhart, played by Maura Tierney.” Somehow that makes me think they weren’t really planning on his exit anytime soon.

I really doubt the show will be worth watching without him. It feels like NBC is just pushing it way beyond its expiration point, which was about five years ago. It’s so formulaic that it’s hard to be invested anymore. I wonder if his exit has anything to do with the problems in his personal life. Perhaps to avoid anymore negative attention being focused on him? I can’t help but wonder what’s going on with his marriage. If he and his wife adopted their son in April, that’s just a month or so before his biological daughter was born to Rupic. All of this must feel like a shot through the heart for his poor wife. Even though he’s a good actor and his character is fairly compelling, he just strikes me as one of those people that thinks he should have whatever he wants. Wife? Check. Mistress? Check. But being responsible for the consequences? Well that’s someone else’s problem.

Goran and his plastic-surgery challenged wife, Ivana Vrdoljak.