Rutherford Kidnapping: Kelly Rutherford Refuses To Send Kids Back To Their Father

Kelly Rutherford is being accused of kidnapping her children after she refused to send them back to their father, who currently resides overseas.

Rutherford has been in a lengthy custody battle with her ex-husband Daniel Giersch for several years. However, it is getting more and more complicated. The former couple share two children together- Hermes, eight, and Helena, six- and have been going back and forth over who gets custody since they divorced in 2010.

Rutherford, who is probably best known for her character Lily van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl, was awarded temporary custody of the children in May, according to a previous report by the Inquisitr. Rutherford was re-united with her kids in July, and was supposed to send them back to their father on August 7. However, she says, the court hearings have been “confusing” since May, and she will not send the kids back to Monaco, where there father has been living.

“These past three years waiting for my children to come home have been very difficult. My children were forced to leave the United states in 2012 when they were only 2 and 5 years old,” Rutherford, 46, said in a statement, according to Us Weekly. “In May, a judge in California gave me sole custody and brought them home. I am immensely grateful and overjoyed to have them back. Since May, however, the court proceedings have been confusing.”

“My ex-husband recently filed for sole custody in Monaco after causing my children to be declared ‘habitual residents’ there, even though he agreed with California in 2012 that the children’s time in France and Monaco would be temporary, and that the children would retain exclusive citizenship and residency in the United States. I trusted my ex-husband’s agreement, and cannot now send them away in light of the legal actions taken in Monaco in violation of that agreement by my ex-husband.”

Now, because the children were not returned as agreed and planned, Giersch is accusing his ex-wife of “kidnapping” and “child abduction.” He issued a statement through his lawyer Fahi Takesh Hallin.

“Daniel will continue to protect the children from any harm and any media exposure. Unfortunately Kelly has now added child abduction to extortion and false statements on her list of actions. Daniel will make sure that the children’s safety and well being will be restored as soon as possible,” Hallin said in a statement, People Magazine reports.

“He is very concerned about the traumatic impact that Kelly’s behavior will have on the children. Kelly was to have delivered the children in France to their father on August 7, 2015. Child abduction is a crime, and everyone involved in kidnapping or abducting the children will face the appropriate legal consequences. Anyone associating themselves with Kelly and her abduction is violating the law.”

Rutherford and Giersch tied-the-knot in August, 2006, but later separated in December, 2008, and were officially divorced in July, 2010. They were originally supposed to share custody of their children, but after Giersch was refused re-entry into the United States, due to his U.S. visa having been revoked, a judge ordered the children should live with him in France.

Who do you think the kids should live with? Do you think Rutherford is actually kidnapping her children? Leave your comments below.

[Photo by Dave Kotinsky / Getty Images]