Demi Moore is getting involved in daughter Rumer Willis‘ custody battle!
As Perezcious readers know, the 37-year-old actress welcomed daughter Louetta with Derek Richard Thomas in 2023, a year after they had begun dating. However, their romantic relationship ended by 2024. And it turns out they have been in a contentious back-and-forth custody battle over Louetta since the breakup.
According to court filings obtained by Us Weekly this week, Rumer accused Derek of exhibiting a “persistent pattern” of “insane emotional abuse” and “often in front of a minor child or while they were trapped in the car with him.” She claimed his “erratic and bizarre” behavior “escalated” after giving birth to their daughter in April 2023. Demi is backing those claims, too!
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Back in January, The Substance star penned a declaration to the court about the alleged “aggressive” behavior she witnessed from Derek and how he “appears to want to dictate and control Rumer’s environment to his needs.” She even went as far as to accuse the musician of making Rumer’s home birth all about himself, saying:
“An example of this was during the birth of Louetta. Rumer had a home birth. I was present for the birth along with Rumer’s siblings. While Rumer was giving birth to Louetta in the birthing tub, Derek, without asking, and without having showered, got into the birthing tub in an aggressive and sudden manner. Everyone was shocked. Rumer asked him to get out immediately, and he did.”
However, Derek allegedly didn’t do so happily. Demi claimed he basically threw a tantrum during the birth:
“He then spent the rest of the birth acting angry and pouting, and making it all about him.”
Ugh, if that’s true, how awful for Rumer. The grandmother felt Derek had “no consideration to Rumer, the baby, the process, or anyone else,” adding:
“He essentially ruined what should’ve been one of the happiest moments of her life.”
The day after the birth, Demi said she returned to the house with Scout Willis, and Derek came into Rumer’s bedroom to “angrily complain that we were there cleaning.” The Ghost star continued:
“I heard him pressure Rumer not to have me and her sisters there with her for support. I heard him berate and angrily complain to Rumer, ‘How dare we come over without his permission.’ He stayed in the room with Rumer for at least 30 minutes that morning less than 12 hours after Rumer had given birth. He would not leave her alone. It ended only when Rumer left the room to get away from him.”
Then, when Demi tried to hold her granddaughter for the first time, Derek allegedly threw another fit:
“After cleaning, I had my first moment to hold my newborn granddaughter. I was holding her and Derek suddenly whipped off his shirt and demanded I give him the baby so he could have what he called ‘skin to skin contact.’”
Did he not already get one-on-one time with the baby by that point? If not, it makes sense he would want skin-to-skin contact before the grandma. It’s an important bonding moment for both moms and dads. But Demi claimed he was “aggressive” and “would not let Rumer put clothes on Louetta when she was clearly cold and needing to be bundled and swaddled.” Yikes. That’s not OK if true. She added:
“He showed absolutely no respect, care, concern, compassion or support toward anyone, especially Rumer and the baby.”
There’s more! Demi went on to accuse Derek of trying to isolate Rumer from her family by putting them “at odds”:
“Derek constantly sucks the joy out of all encounters with him. He wants to put Rumer at odds with our family, and creates unnecessary stress and fear for Rumer to this day. While our family made an effort to support Derek as a new father and do our best to support Rumer around his actions, he continued to try to cut her support system completely out of the picture.”
Furthermore, Demi claimed Thomas has brought Louetta back to her home “filthy”:
“On many occasions, he brings Louetta back filthy to my house with an unchanged diaper. He has left her car seat filthy, and his general attitude is that it is unimportant. He does not pick up after himself. He clearly expected Rumer or me or our staff to do everything for him.”
And on top of everything? Demi said Rumer is “doing 100 percent of the financial and physical support” for her granddaughter. Derek allegedly making no effort to help out:
“He makes no effort to acknowledge that, support that, and in fact has only put Louetta and Rumer in more stressful situations. I have continued to see him make choices that are not reflective of someone who truly wants to share in parental responsibility. He has refused to make any effort and has shown no desire to seek out means to support Louetta. He refused to make choices to share in any of the basic responsibilities.”
Whoa! Not looking good!
Derek is denying everything. His attorney, Mike Kretzmer, responded to the allegations in a statement to Page Six on Thursday, saying his client will “try this case in court and not in press.” That said, the lawyer did take a moment to deny Rumer’s claims that The Soil Maker inventor exhibited “incessant domestic violence.” He also insisted Derek is a good dad to their kid:
“Ms. Willis’ statements are inaccurate and false and we intend to demonstrate this in court. Mr. Thomas is a loving, capable and wholly appropriate father to their child. He wants nothing more than to be the best father he can be. It is, to put it mildly, unfortunate that Ms. Willis has chosen to obstruct without justification whatsoever Mr. Thomas’ relationship with his daughter. Ms. Willis’ accusations are bombastic and dramatic, but lack substance and factual support as we will demonstrate in Court at the appropriate time.”
We’ll see how the custody battle turns out! But Rumer and her momma are throwing out some very serious allegations! Oof! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments (below).
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Rumer Willis/Derek Richard Thomas/Instagram, MEGA/WENN]
