Gossip Girl's Lily van der Woodsen just received some heartbreaking news. Kelly Rutherford lost a custody battle which would have allowed to bring her two children with ex-husband Daniel Giersch back to the United States. Her children, 8-year-old Hermés and 5-year-old Helena, reside with their father in France. On Tuesday, Rutherford opened up to ABC News about the upsetting situation. She said, "I know it’s not right. Parents know ... Everyone knows it’s not right."
All of this began in August 2012 when a California judge sent Rutherford's son and daughter to live in Europe with their father. They are supposed to share custody of their children, but Giersch was not allowed back in the United States after going abroad. Because of this, Rutherford's been having to fly back and forth to France in order to see her kids.
"I could sit here and tell you how often I cry," Rutherford continued. "I can tell you how it feels to leave my kids in a foreign country, to go see them after not seeing them for weeks on end, not being able to take them to school, pick them up from school, dress them, smell them, hug them."
According to ABC News' legal analyst Dan Abrams, the case is "so crazy," because "there was no allegation that Kelly Rutherford was a bad parent." He added, "The heart of the ruling was basically saying we don’t want to force these kids to fly around to visit their father who can’t come into the United States so we’re just going to move them to France.”
Thanks to the ongoing custody battle and its expenses, Rutherford had to file for bankruptcy in 2013. Despite her children living outside of the United States, the federal court ruled, “The children have not been deported; they will retain their United States citizenship and, once they reach the age of majority, they will be free to choose where they reside."
With all of that said and done, Rutherford is not giving up on her children or her rights as a parent. She told ABC News, “I told my son, ‘Mommy is still fighting for you.’ My children... not only were they taken away, they were sent to a foreign country.”
As for Rutherford's ex-husband, his attorney released the following statement to ABC News: “Daniel Giersch continues to protect the children from any negativity and therefore will continue to not engage in any of these unfortunate and false media fabrications which only serve one person but clearly not the children.”
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