Exclusive: ‘Gossip Girl’ Star Kelly Rutherford on Custody Battle: ‘I Will Never Stop Fighting for My Children’
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Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Nickelodeon(NEW YORK) — Gossip Girl actress Kelly Rutherford said would not stop fighting for her children after a judge ruled that they will stay with her ex-husband in France.
“I will never stop fighting for my children. They’re my babies and they’re very young and this is going to affect them profoundly and I want to be there as much as I can to show them that that this isn’t my fault…this isn’t something I wanted…and that’s my concerns,” Rutherford said in an exclusive Good Morning America interview Saturday morning. Rutherford has been locked into an international custody battle over custody of her two children — ages 3 and 5, with her ex-husband Daniel Giersch for the last three years.
On Tuesday, a judge ordered the children remain in France with their father, who they’ve been visiting over the summer.
On Friday, Rutherford asked the judge for a stay which would have brought the kids back to New York while she appealed.
But the stay was denied, destroying her last hope of getting the children back before school starts.
“They went away for the summer to visit their dad and now all of a sudden they starting school in France…so I think it shocked everyone,” Rutherford said.
Giersch is a European citizen who can no longer enter the U.S. since his visa was revoked.
The judge ruled in order to maintain a 50/50 caretaking split, the children must stay in France with him and Rutherford would have travel back and forth to see them – a set up that complicates the situation Rutherford said.
“I’m all for 50/50 and all for children having a mother and father and co-parenting — it’s just that the way it’s set up now — I’m a working mother. I’ve been the sole supporter of my children for their entire life,” she said. “I have a job so I mean, I’m going to do my best to be there obviously every chance I get but I can’t just be there on a regular basis when I have to work and — I mean I just can’t pick up and go you know that easily.”
Giersch is not commenting on the legal battles, but released a statement through his lawyer, Fahi Takesh Hallin, saying he is “focused on co-parenting the children, and continuing to promote any and all contact of the children with Kelly.”
But Rutherford’s lawyers say the legal fight will continue, and they will appeal, but for now, her children will begin school in France on Monday.
“You know, I went into this very peacefully and I was pregnant when this all started so I did not expect all of this…,” Rutherford said. “I think it’s always in the best interest of kids to have two parents that can keep their own issues aside and do what’s in the best interest of their kids – these are their formative years this is a very important time.”
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio