“Jim is talking with his legal team about getting full custody of the children because he is getting increasingly upset that Meghan has been out of town during portions of her custodial time,” a source close to the Edmonds family told Us Weekly. “There have been numerous times where Jim has brought the kids to Meghan for her custodial week only to find she is out of town and he has to leave them with Meghan’s nanny.”
As the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to make things more complicated for the estranged duo, the first source notes that the former MLB athlete “has been told Meghan is looking for a second nanny” to help care for their kids during her time with them.
“[This] raises his concern even more about the amount of time Meghan is away during her custodial time and the amount of time she is actually spending with the children,” the insider adds. “Jim feels if Meghan cannot be present during the week she has the children, then he should just keep them at his house and not leave them with the nannies.”
King fired back at her estranged husband’s allegations in a lengthy statement to Us the same day, noting, “I am a working, single mother and I have one live-in nanny (with no plans to hire an additional nanny). In the 10 months since Jim walked out on our children and myself, I have left Aspen, Hart and Hayes with my mother for three days (with my nanny helping her). I told Jim I had to be out of town for those days but he told me he couldn’t take custody of the kids because he would also be out of town.”
The former Bravo reality star took aim at Edmonds’ “tattered value system,” doubling down on the claims that “he had an inappropriate relationship” with their former nanny, Carly Wilson. (Last year, the 22-year-old caretaker denied the affair allegations on social media.)
“Jim even set Carly [up] with a happily married friend of Jim’s [one] evening and this was not the first time Jim has set Carly up with a married man. This further drives home the tattered value system of this man,” King’s statement continues. “Additionally, our children’s GAL (guardian ad litem, a court appointed attorney for our children) knew about me leaving for the three days Jim is questioning. I told her why I had to leave and she said that was completely fine, that parents have to go out of town all the time and find coverage for their children. I have had primary custody of my children since he left us, including when I quarantined them for nine weeks in L.A. while Jim contracted COVID while partying in Nashville (and also infected his entire home). And as much as I hate to bring up the past, it was Jim who was sending pictures of his penis to another woman on the day the twins were born, and it was Jim who left us and didn’t request to see the kids for weeks afterward.”
Steve Honig, a rep for the former MLB player, said he has no comment “on matters of custody.” However, he notes that “Jim has seven children and understands that as a parent you run your life around your children, not the other way around. Meghan has continually tried to smear Jim in the press and it seems nothing has changed,” Honig told Us Weekly.
Despite Edmonds’ defense of his parenting, King asserts that her children’s best interests are always at the front of her mind.
“For Jim to suggest I did anything inappropriate, wrong, or questioning my parenting is — quite frankly — not only laughable but unfortunately in line with the way he has treated and spoken to me,” she claims. “I’ve kept my mouth shut through months of abuse and I’ve tried to take the high road knowing this is my children’s father, and I will have to have some sort of relationship with him for the rest of my life as we work to coparent, but don’t for a second think that I don’t have all the evidence I need to back up every fact stated above.”
Meghan and Jim share three kids: three-year-old daughter Aspen and twins Hayes and Hart, 22 months.
In October 2019, the former professional baseball player and the former Bravo reality star called it quits after five years of marriage. The former RHOC star accused her then-husband of being unfaithful with their nanny, which both Jim and the caretaker denied.
In May 2020, Jim confirmed he was in a relationship with Kortnie O’Connor. Before Jim went public with his new relationship, his estranged wife claimed that O’Connor had a threesome with them during their marriage.
Meghan has been in a relationship with Christian Schauf, who is a podcaster and CEO of an emergency survival kit company in Park City, Utah. The two met on a dating app. He claims he was not aware of who she was as he doesn't want the Real Housewives franchise.
Photo Credit: Bravo