'Gossip Girl' actress in custody battle can't keep kids in US, New York judge rules
Kelly Rutherford. Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
A New York judge on Tuesday ordered actress Kelly Rutherford to return her children to Monaco, where their father has been living after his U.S. visa was revoked.
Judge Ellen Frances Gesmer ruled after scolding the Gossip Girl star for failing to bring the children, ages 8 and 6, to court, report the New York Daily News, People magazine and ABC News. Rutherford’s lawyer, Alexander Rojas, said his client kept the children away to avoid the “media circus outside.” At that point, Gesmer closed the hearing.
Rutherford had refused on Friday to return the children to ex-husband Daniel Giersch and his mother. “I have decided that I cannot lawfully send my children away from the United States to live in a foreign country,” she said in a statement.
She complied with the judge’s order on Tuesday, however, and the children were reunited with Giersch’s mother for the planned return trip to Monaco. Rutherford will return to court—this time in Monaco—in September.
A California court gave custody of the children to Giersch in 2012. Rutherford said Giersch was supposed to have the children only temporarily while he worked out the visa issues. Rutherford is fighting for custody in the United States, but courts in California and New York have ruled they don’t have jurisdiction.
TMZ has video of the “visibly upset” star leaving the courthouse.
