Already have an account?
Get back to the

Kelly Rutherford Tearfully Talks Custody Battle: “Everyone Knows It’s Not Right,” I Told My Son I’m Fighting for Him

Kelly Rutherford
Kelly Rutherford gave an emotional interview about her ongoing custody battle during a pre-taped interview on Good Morning America on Tuesday, April 14

Kelly Rutherford’s heartbreaking custody battle isn’t getting any easier. In a pre-taped interview with Good Morning America on Tuesday, April 14, the Gossip Girl alum spoke out about a federal court denying her request to bring her children back home to NYC.

Related: PHOTOS: Gossip Girl stars -- then and now

“I know it’s not right. Parents know — everyone knows it’s not right,” Rutherford, 46, said of the devastating blow. “I can sit here and tell you how often I cry. I can tell you how it feels to leave my kids in a foreign country and seeing them after not seeing them for weeks on end. Not being able to bring them from school and pick them up from school, dress them, hug them, smell them.”

kelly rutherford and kids
Kelly Rutherford and her children attend Women’s Health Hamptons “Party Under the Stars” in 2013

Related: PHOTOS: Most expensive Hollywood divorces

Rutherford’s unsettling woes first began around the time she and her German ex-husband, Daniel Giersch, divorced in 2010 after four years of marriage. The pair have since been in an ongoing six-year international custody battle for their son Hermes, 8, and daughter Helena, 5, who currently live with Giersch in France. Giersch was refused re-entry into the States, and it was determined in December 2013 that he no longer has to pay for their children to visit the actress.

Rutherford resides in NYC, and filed for bankruptcy amid the unsettling situation in June 2013. In the tearful GMA interview, Rutherford explained what she once told her eldest child.

Related: PHOTOS: Ugly Hollywood divorces

“I told my son, ‘Mommy is still fighting for you,'” she recalled. “My children, not only were they taken away, but they were sent to a foreign country. I don’t even know how you explain to someone what it feels like.”

She doesn’t want others to ever feel the pain she feels now. To that end, the star created the organization The Children’s Justice Campaign, to make sure other parents never have to deal with the same situation.

In this article

Got a Tip form close button
Got a tip for US?
We're All Ears for Celebrity Buzz!