“Gossip Girl” star Kelly Rutherford is getting help from a fellow mom in her ugly child custody battle with ex Daniel Giersch. A California judge recently ruled that Rutherford’s kids, Hermes, 6, and Helena, 3, must live with Giersch in France after his visa was revoked, which has forced Rutherford to subsequently fly overseas 40 times just to see them, she tells Page Six. This week Caroline Fina, a mother whose kids are former classmates of Rutherford’s, launched a petition on Change.org asking California lawmakers to help Rutherford reunite with her children. “This petition is about bringing Kelly’s beautiful children back home to the life they know, in the only country they’ve ever known,” Fina posted. “There is no good reason for [them] to be forced to live across the Atlantic. [They] have been taken away from their school, their friends, and their doctors.” The petition had already drawn 1,400 signatures and counting at press time, including support from celebrities Sean Avery, Lisa Rinna, Estelle and Jill Zarin. Rutherford told us of the petition, “It’s a touching thing to do from mother to mother. We would wait for our kids together and have play dates together. So she saw [the drama] firsthand.” Rutherford said her kids will remain in France till at least September, when a judge is supposed to make a permanent ruling in the case. “A lot of mothers were really shocked by this,” she said of her situation. “I think it would make any mom think, ‘If it can happen to her, then it can happen to me.’ ”
Motherly support amid Kelly Rutherford’s ugly child custody battle
