Kelly Rutherford has spoken out about her heart-wrenching battle for custody of her children, after a judge recently upheld an order that they remain with their father.
The Gossip Girl star split from her ex-husband Daniel Giersch while pregnant with their second child and Giersch is no longer allowed in the US after being found guilty of visa fraud.
A judge previously ruled that the children should live in France with their father and Rutherford had been embroiled in a six-year battle for their return to the US, with a recent hearing failing to change the current situation.
In a recent interview, the actress said that “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… to see them after not seeing them for weeks on end”.
“Every day you’re not with your child is a long day, and I don’t think people realize that. You go into court and they’re not thinking in that way of time, and they’re not thinking about never being able to get that time back.”
“It’s amazing, so primal, you just want to smell them, they’re like little monkeys, we’re all on top of each other all the time whether sitting eating or cuddling… watching a movie… so much we want to say and get in, and the time we spend together is so precious, and we so appreciate every moment.”
Rutherford added that she travels to see the children every four to six weeks and filed for bankruptcy in 2013 after spending $1.5m on legal fees.
“I either talk to them on the phone or we FaceTime, we Skype, we talk all the time, we talk about how we love each other and how we’re going to get through this… I want them to think things are normal and that we are going to be together. It’s going to be fine .”
