Well, I guess the separation between Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner isn’t amicable after all. On Thursday, Sophie sued her soon-to-be ex-husband for the alleged wrongful retention of their two children. And – get this – he’s already responded in a lengthy statement.
According to the complaint documents obtained by PEOPLE, Sophie claims that Joe is refusing to return the passports of their children, Willa, three, and their 14-month-old daughter which the documents identify as “D“. Without the passports, the children are unable to return to the UK.
“On September 19, 2023, the Father’s Florida attorney confirmed that the Father will not return the passports to the Mother and will not consent for the children to return home to England,” the documents read, per PEOPLE.
“Based on the Father’s express statements that he will not return the children to England and will not return the children’s passports to the Mother, on September 20, 2023, the Mother has submitted her Hague Convention Application for Return to the Central Authority for England and Wales seeking the return of the children to England.”
Shortly after the file was received, Joe released a statement that the wizards at PEOPLE managed to get their gossip-loving hands on too. And, just to give you some context on how fast this moved, both the complaint by Sophie and Joe’s response happened while us Aussies were sleeping last night.
The statement began by stating that the divorce proceedings were filed in Florida by Joe following “multiple conversations with Sophie.”
“The Florida Court has already entered an order that restricts both parents from relocating the children. Sophie was served with this order on September 6, 2023, more than two weeks ago,” the statement read, per PEOPLE.
“Joe and Sophie had a cordial meeting this past Sunday in New York, when Sophie came to New York to be with the kids. They have been with her since that meeting. Joe’s impression of the meeting was that they had reached an understanding that they would work together towards an amicable co-parenting setup.”
The statement claims that within 24 hours of agreeing upon an “amicable co-parenting setup”, Sophie made it clear she wanted to move the children to the UK permanently.
“She demanded via this filing that Joe hand over the children’s passports so that she could take them out of the country immediately. If he complies, Joe will be in violation of the Florida Court order,” the statement continued before asserting that Joe is seeking “shared parenting with the kids”.
The docs say that he is okay with the children being raised in both the US and the UK, he puts forward that they have “spent the vast majority of their lives in the US.
The statement goes on: “This is an unfortunate legal disagreement about a marriage that is sadly ending. When language like ‘abduction’ is used, it is misleading at best, and a serious abuse of the legal system at worst. The children were not abducted.
“After being in Joe’s care for the past three months at the agreement of both parties, the children are currently with their mother. Sophie is making this claim only to move the divorce proceedings to the UK and to remove the children from the U.S. permanently,” it reads.
The statement, which was made on Joe’s behalf, said that Joe has “already disavowed any and all statements purportedly made on his behalf that were disparaging of Sophie.”
“They were made without his approval and are not consistent with his views. His wish is that Sophie reconsider her harsh legal position and move forward in a more constructive and private manner. His only concern is the well-being of his children,” the statement concludes.
Ooft. That statement was both lengthy and girthy. I hope he gave his lawyers a fruit basket for that one.
In case you missed it, rumours that the very cool couple were headed for divorce were made public by TMZ in late August. While many people didn’t want to believe it, the gossip goblins in the TMZ office turned out to be absolutely on the money. Sophie and Joe officially filed for divorce on September 1.
On September 6, they shared a joint statement which said: “After four wonderful years of marriage we have mutually decided to amicably end our marriage. There are many speculative narratives as to why but, truly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children.”
Since the announcement of their split, many anonymous voices apparently close to the couple came out with disparaging remarks about Sophie Turner, which many thought to be part of a sneaky little PR campaign by Joe.
Most recently, Sophie was papped hanging out with Taylor Swift, who is famously known as one of Joe’s ex-girlfriends, on a night out in New York.
Iconic behaviour, if you ask me. The things I’d do to be a fly on the wall for that night out are absolutely shameful.
That’s all we know about the divorce proceedings so far but don’t worry, we’ll keep you posted.
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