Jaime King’s battle with ex-husband Kyle Newman over their kids just got uglier. The Hart of Dixie actress, 45, has fired back at Kyle’s claim that she was “slurring” and appeared “strung out” while their sons were in her care. As In Touch first reported, Kyle, 48, filed a petition for a restraining order and sole custody of their sons on October 23. “This whole ordeal has been a nightmare for Jaime,” a source exclusively tells In Touch. “She won’t stop fighting for her kids.”
Kyle accused Jaime of neglecting their sons, James Knight and Leo Thames, while they were in her care, and he demanded that she submit to drug and alcohol testing.
“The children are currently in danger when in their mother’s care. Jaime King is suffering from drug and alcohol addiction and is emotionally abusing and neglecting our children; placing them in danger and exposing them to many disturbing people and situations, including sexual content,” the Barely Lethal director claimed in the petition. “The children are begging me to help rescue them from the chaos in their mother’s home.”
In addition to asking that Jaime have limited supervised visitation with their children, Kyle told the court she had a history of “severe drug and alcohol abuse and has had a major relapse endangering the safety and wellbeing of our children in her custodial care.”
The Lights Out actress’ lawyer, Diana D. Hagopian, later accused Kyle of making “unfounded malicious claims and [using] the children as weapons and pawns without regard to their privacy.”
A hearing that was intended to discuss Kyle’s restraining order was scheduled for Monday, November 18. In Touch exclusively reported that the Department of Children and Family Services is now involved in the court battle, which was revealed during the hearing. The judge presiding over Kyle’s petition for a restraining order against his ex made the announcement in the courtroom, according to court documents obtained by In Touch.
“The court learns that Department of Children and Family Services are involved with the case,” a minute order from the hearing stated, adding that there were no temporary orders in effect.
While neither Jaime nor Kyle were present for the hearing, his attorney told the court that Kyle had not been able to serve Jaime with a notice about the court hearing. Due to the situation, the hearing for Kyle’s restraining order and sole custody requests was pushed back to January 13, 2025.
In light of the legal issues, Kyle’s attorney, Garry Gekht, previously told In Touch that his client’s “only wish is that Jaime finally gets the help she needs to that she can be a safe, healthy and appropriate parent to the parties’ children, and again asks for privacy, both from the media and from Jaime and her new attorney, for the sake of the children who continue to be in his exclusive care and remain his sole focus.”
Kyle and Jaime tied the knot in November 2007, and they announced their split in May 2020. Their divorce was finalized in September 2023.
