Most of us only learned Julia Fox’s name in 2022, when she had a brief six-week relationship with Kanye West. That relationship was enough to launch Julia into C-list stardom. To be fair, Julia was somewhat known by various New York art/modeling communities pre-Kanye. Like, her whole thing was being a muse and “artist” herself. But yeah, she’s managed to make a name for herself off the back of the Kanye thing, and she still gets invited to various lower-tier awards shows and she gets paid to show up to various fashion events. Julia is also a TikToker, and she told an interesting story about how her former partner baptized their son without her knowledge. In People Mag’s coverage, they even got Julia’s ex-partner on the record about what really happened?
Julia Fox is calling out her ex for not including her in an important milestone. On April 4, the Uncut Gems actress, 35, shared on TikTok that she recently “crashed out” after an encounter with her ex-husband Peter Artemiev regarding their son Valentino, 4. Before launching into the story about how her ex allegedly excluded her from being involved with her son’s baptism, Fox admitted to her followers that she’s “not used to getting upset like that anymore” and that the interaction affected “her nervous system.”
In a response to PEOPLE, Artemiev said his mother called Fox in February 2024 to ask permission to baptize their son. “Her response to my mom was… ‘I don’t care about religion. If you want to baptize him. Baptize him. I don’t care,’ ” Artemiev wrote, adding that at the time Fox made her TikTok video, Valentino was “in my mom’s care, which he regularly is.”
“So basically, what happened was, I went to my son’s school for his school performance. His dad was there. He came late, as usual,” Fox began in her TikTok video. “And then I had to, like, help load some stuff in my car, so we were walking to my car, and he points to this church, and he goes, ‘Oh, this is where Valentino was baptized.’”
The Presence star was shocked to hear this news because she said she didn’t know anything about the baptism.
“I was like, ‘Well, why wasn’t I invited?’ And he was like, ‘You were invited; you just didn’t want to come,’ ” she said. “And I was like, ‘Okay, first of all, don’t tell me what I was not and was invited to.’ Like, absolutely not. If I was invited to something like that, I would go. I would remember. And if I wasn’t invited, I would still have a picture or something. Like, no one told me anything about this.”
Fox went on to say that Artemiev continued to claim that she said she “didn’t want to come” and “didn’t care” about the baptism. According to Fox, this moment brought her back to times in their relationship when she felt like she was “being gaslighted over and over and over until then I freak out and then do something and he calls me abusive.”
The “Down the Drain” author said that after going back and forth with Artemiev, she ended up calling his mom to ask why she wasn’t invited to the baptism. Artemiev’s mother told Fox that the priest said that the ceremony was a “Russian Orthodox thing and only Russian Orthodox people could come.”
“And it’s like, ‘Wow, now I see where this man gets it from.’ Don’t gaslight me. That is a b——- excuse. I am this child’s mother. You are not his mother,” she said, before noting that his mother also mentioned that “she thought [Fox] wouldn’t care.”
“I’ve been raising this child alone for four years, doing everything for him, taking him all around the world with me on any job I do, and you think I don’t care?” she continued. “I was like, ‘Listen, lady, your son doesn’t care. I care very much, and you just robbed me of an experience.’”
The model added that Artemiev’s mom asked her if she was going to “punish me now” and stop her from seeing her grandchild. Fox noted that she would never let their disagreements impact her son, saying she doesn’t “operate like that.”
“It’s just crazy, like you can’t make this s— up. These people are f—— animals,” she said, before bringing the camera closer to her face and adding a plea to all of her female followers. “Girls. Please. Please from the bottom of my heart. Who you have a child with will dictate the rest of your life. Do not have a child with a loser.”
So, I actually have surprisingly strong feelings about this? I believe Julia. I believe that her ex was gaslighting her and that she was never asked directly if their son could be baptized, nor was she ever invited to her own son’s baptism. I believe that her ex probably asked her – at some point, maybe not even recently – if she cared if their son was baptized and she probably shrugged it off, and he took that as a greenlight to organize it without her knowledge. It’s absolutely insane to baptize a child without the consent of the kid’s mother, not to mention refusing to INVITE the mother. Julia is right: young women should be more careful about who they choose as their baby-daddies. Please think about the fact that this man will be in your life for the next eighteen years.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
- SANTA MONICA, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – FEBRUARY 22: Julia Fox arrives at the 40th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards 2025 held at the Santa Monica Beach on February 22, 2025 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 967919774, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Julia Fox, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
- THERMAL, RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, USA – APRIL 12: Italian-American actress and model Julia Fox arrives at the 8th Annual REVOLVE Festival 2025 during the 2025 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival – Weekend 1 – Day 2 held at Cavallo Ranch on April 12, 2025 in Thermal, Riverside County, California, United States.,Image: 987830954, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Julia Fox, Credit line: Image Press Agency/Image Press Agency/Avalon
- THERMAL, RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, USA – APRIL 12: Italian-American actress and model Julia Fox arrives at the 8th Annual REVOLVE Festival 2025 during the 2025 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival – Weekend 1 – Day 2 held at Cavallo Ranch on April 12, 2025 in Thermal, Riverside County, California, United States.,Image: 987831019, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Julia Fox, Credit line: Image Press Agency/Image Press Agency/Avalon
“Who you have a child with will dictate the rest of your life. Do not have a child with a loser.”
She was 31 when she got pregnant and she didn’t know that already?
IDK..maybe I’m just a salty bitch these days but I can’t muster enough energy to care about this. Yeah it was shitty and wrong to not invite her but what does this materially change in her life? It would be more infuriating to me if she didn’t approve of the ceremony but it seems like she’s fine with it, just mad she didn’t know about it beforehand. Eh.
Being 31 does not make you immune from making mistakes; you are still human after all.
Also, isn’t Julia Fox Jewish? You don’t just baptise a Jewish kid without having a conversation.
Nah she dated Kanye for a minute so pretty sure she’s not Jewish. On that note, her taste in men feels more like a feature than a bug. Would explain why she was still repeating that pattern when she was old enough to old better.
Coming from a Ukrainian Orthodox family this type of gaslighting is real.
I got my kids baptized without my husband’s knowledge or consent and I don’t feel bad about it. I knew he wouldn’t like it, but also that he wouldn’t really care because he’s not religious. He was moderately upset for a short time. But I was right, that he didn’t care on one level – because he’s not religious – but on another level, he didn’t like it because he comes from an old school WASPy Episcopalian family, and I got them baptized in the Catholic Church And yes, we are happily married. The only thing we’ve ever fought about is how to clean the dishes properly.
Not just 18 years, potentially, the rest of your life. When you have a child by someone, you’re helping to reproduce that person. All the characteristics, bad or good, go along with that.
Also: IIRC, Julia is Jewish? If she is, her son will be considered Jewish, by the Jewish community.
Not Jewish: according to wiki and other sources online she was raised in a Catholic household. No mention of being Jewish afaics.
I think people think she’s Jewish because of Uncut Gems.
I read her autobiography, and her family (mothers side at least) is Italian
The next 18 years legally but realistically for the rest of your life. You’ll have to (possibly) navigate grandparent time and all of that shit too. All of it is tricky even if they’re a great person. I could never regret having kids because truly they are the best humans I know, but in my next life I want to be responsible for just myself.
That has to be a lie about only roman orthodox people allowed- it’s just a ceremony. She’s not blessing him or taking communion or anything.
Yep total lie. Anybody can go in the Russian orthodox church as a visitor but you have to be Russian orthodox in order to be a godparent or get married there
Honestly on her side. You don’t get to just say I will do this without informing your former partner/wife/husband/ex when you share a child. It’s like going on a trip out of state/city/country and saying well I didn’t think you care. I had a friend dealing with mess like this from an ex, she had to constantly worry he would just hit the road with the kids and go hang out somewhere random.
I have never understood why 18 is the magical age that you no longer have to deal with an ex over your children. My children are my babies until I’m dead. I’m here to support them with whatever they need. My oldest had my first grandchild last year at 30. If you think there hasn’t been some juggling with my ex over that, guess again. I would NEVER give up my children to not have had to deal with an abusive ex. But that didn’t stop at 18. And I don’t think it ever does. Maybe if your ex is a mature, loving parent. But all of us aren’t that lucky. Wishing Julia peace in parenting ahead.
Usually until they’re 18, or 21 depending on the family court agreement, both parents have to be involved in decisions like travel, schooling, doctors.
When my son was 4, I had to prove a good faith attempt to locate his biodad for “approval” to take him to Spain because technically on paper we had joint custody (he fled once child support was mandated, among other reasons…my picker was BAD ladies!), I took Kiddo back to Spain when he was 22, and I didn’t have to bother with that. But until he was 18, there was always the possibility that he could have say over any decision.
If her ex is even a semi-involved father, then she has to “deal with him,” legally speaking, until 18 or 21.