As Sandra Bullock makes the awards show rounds there’s still some minor drama brewing for her at home. There’s a custody battle going on between Sandra’s husband, Jesse James, and his porn star ex, Janine Lindemulder, who served six months for tax evasion last year. Lindemulder and James have a five year old daughter, Sunny, who has been staying with Bullock and James since her mother served time starting in January. We’ve heard from Lindemulder at least twice, on Good Morning America and in Life & Style, in public bids to earn more custody time with her daughter. In response, James’ lawyer issued a terse statement telling Lindemulder not to drag Sandra Bullock into the custody battle with his client. Meanwhile Lindemulder is back to “acting” in adult films and is now married to an ex con with a long rap sheet including federal drug convictions.
Anyway Lindemulder has had all visitation rights with Sunny revoked following a hearing in which her parenting was characterized as erratic. She’s missed scheduled visitation time and scheduled calls with Sunny according to what James told the court:
At a hearing today in the contentious custody battle between Sandra Bullock’s current hubby and his former missus, a judge ordered that Lindemulder be allowed to make daily phone calls to her 6-year-old daughter, Sunny, who currently resides full-time with the famous couple.
“No visitation rights were granted at this point,” Orange County Superior Court spokeswoman Carol Levitzky told E! News. James and Lindemulder, currently serving a four-month stint in a halfway house for violating her parole in a tax-evasion case, were both present for the proceedings; Bullock was not.
However, the phone time ruling didn’t come without resistance from James.“She texts at least twice and up to 20 times a day, demanding to talk to Sunny,” he said of his ex. “But sometimes she’ll go a week at a time where she doesn’t make a call.
“[Lindemulder] has no filter on what she tells [Sunny] about prison. There’s a lot of conversation about prison or jail and things that I don’t think a 6-year-old can comprehend or process.”
James also noted in court that while Lindemulder had fought for (and won) Christmas custody of the girl, she never materialized on the holiday, and in fact had missed four of her past five scheduled visits.
The hearing was continued to June 14, and while the judge praised James and Lindemulder for being able to make positive progress despite the media attention, both were ordered to undergo joint counseling once a month.
[From E! Online]
It’s probably in Sunny’s best interests that she have limited contact with her mom if all of this is true. It’s still so sad to hear about someone losing visitation with their child. As a mother, you feel for other moms who can’t see their children. There are plenty of people in this world who aren’t fit parents though, and it sounds like Sunny has a loving and supportive home with Bullock and James.
Jesse James and Sandra Bullock are shown at the SAG Awards on 1/23/10. Credit: WENN.com
IF A JUDGE LETS THAT MOTHER NEAR THAT CHILD AGAIN IT WILL TRULY EXPLAIN HOW MESSED UP THIS SYSTEM IS. IF YOU MISS CHRISTMAS VISITATION AND MARRY AN EX-CON AFTER GETTING RELEASED FROM JAIL YOURSELF YOU DONT DESERVE THAT LITTLE GIRL.
sounds to me like Lindemulder doesn’t really want her daughter.
beg for time and when it’s given to you, you don’t show?
I don’t have much experience in child custody battles (thank goodness) but behavior like her strikes me as the thing people do to 1)make their ex’s life a living hell and 2)make herself look good to the public.
her motives for doing this are suspect, IMO.
Yes, it is sad when a mother loses visitation/contact with her child. What is even more sad is when it’s her own fault; something caused by her own actions. You know, like choosing not to pay your taxes, going to jail for that choice, choosing to marry an ex-con with a rap sheet longer than your child is tall, and choosing to continue to act in porn (which is why you chose not to pay taxes in the first place). All those choices that, in reality, a six-year-old child doesn’t have. Take away ALL her rights. She doesn’t deserve the girl.
@ Kimberly,
Yes, the justice system is absolutely screwed up, and California takes the blue ribbon for “Most Screwed Up Family Court System”. Sad, but true. My Mom works in Family Law, and she’s told me more than once that the court doesn’t care if the father (or mother) is fornicating in front of the kids; they will STILL get unsupervised visitation. Can you believe that?1
Beh, biology is the least of what makes someones a mother. I give credit to him for being a good father, however, he did marry that mess and have a child with her. If he now wasn’t married to Sandra Bullock would he be as involved? I would like to think so.
I feel bad for the little girl, her mother clearly doesn’t put her interests ahead of her own. But at least Jesse and Sandra are providing a good home for her.
I know someone who did the same thing, started missing visitations, and eventually she stopped going all together. Hasn’t bothered to see her daughter in over 2 years. Some people should never have kids.
I feel bad for the child. Screw the mother, because if she cannot fit visiting her own child into her schedule, then she doesn’t deserve to ever see the child again. Remember, child do not get to choose who their parents are, UNFORTUNATELY!
She’s six
Screw feeling bad for Lindemulder- she doesn’t deserve to see her daughter if that’s how she behaves. Courts don’t take away your visitation unless you are failing HARD as a parent. Poor Sunny. But I don’t feel bad for her basketcase mother one bit. This is the system actually working for a change.
I have to wonder if he and Sandra weren’t celebrities would this case be working in their favor? I hope so, but I see so many times the men getting screwed in court and the selfish mom walking away with everything. So I am glad in this case. But like Phowie said, if she is such a bad mom why did he choose to have kids with her? Sounds like he isn’t very bright either. He is darn lucky to have Sandra in his life.
It is always preferable to unite children with their parents, provided that the parents can provide some semblance of a healthy relationship and environment.
By every account (including Janine’s) little Sunny is being well cared for by Jesse and Sandra. So now the question becomes, what is less disruptive to Sunny? Cutting out her mother, or maintaining the relationship even if it puts Sunny at some risk?
Well, I agree that that woman shouldn’t have visitation rights with her child if she isn’t making the effort at all. I think she’s doing it deliberatly, she wants visitation on her schedule alone or no contact at all. Its sad, but I saw that scenario happen before. The ‘mother’ was so indignant at the thought of having a caseworker watch her with her kids, she didn’t want to see them at all. which in turn just further works against her.
And for the record, just because she’s a porn star shouldn’t be the only reason she is an unfit parent. There are plently of women who work in the skin industry who can take care of their kids just fine. its just with complicating factors like the boyfriend that things are a little more scrutinized.
“if she is such a bad mom why did he choose to have kids with her”
in James’ defense, you can’t always tell what kind of mother a woman will be until she has a child to care for.
for example, when Nicole Richie got pregnant, the reaction from a lot of people was “UH OH!” and she’s really changed since she became a mom.
Sever the mothers rights and let the child move forward instead of being hurt by her mother’s neglect and selfishness. She is 6 and has a right to grow up happy and secure.
That poor little girl. I hope Sandra and Jesse create a stable, safe, loving home for her, and keep that horrid woman AWAY from her. I know I would be humiliated and disgusted if my mother was a porn star, and would want nothing to do with her…but then again, I am old-fashioned and how I feel is just that..how *I* feel. But if I was Sandra and Jesse I would worry about the safety and well-being of Sunny. I do not think it is wise to expose a 6-year old to a woman who is not only a porn star, but is involved in drugs and in a relationship with an ex-con. I am not saying that she should never see her mother, but I personally think it would be best to wait until the child is old enough to understand the facts and make that decision for herself.
Honestly, I would not want a child to grow up thinking that being a porn star is a viable life choice, because it isn’t. I don’t care how judgmental that may sound, porn is damaging to women, just look at 99.9% of porn stars to see that they are broken and irrevocably f*cked in the head, and to expose a little girl to that lifestyle is just asking for trouble. The child’s safety should come first, and if that means she cannot be exposed to her mother, than so be it. I would rather the mother’s “rights” be “violated” than that child get hurt by her or someone associated with her.
Not saying porn stars are bad people, just that a child should not be around that. I’m sure there are good mothers that were porn stars, but that is likely AFTER they are out of the industry and have gotten help for the issues that made them become porn stars to begin with. People DO change, and I hope Janine gets help so she can be part of her child’s life.
Huh. She makes a big stink about custody and visitation and Sandra (i.e. publicity) and now she’s back in porn…now that she’s made enough of a name for herself to sell some videos.
Poor kid. I hope “mom” just lets Jesse and Sandra raise her now, but that probably won’t happen as long as she can get a little press about it…
Jesse didn’t seem to mind her professon when he chose to create a baby with her. I don’t buy for a second that Jesse didn’t know the kind of mother she would be. I don’t know if these reports are true, but I have been reading that he wanted nothing to do with the child until Sandy came along in the picture. And Chicken Tetrazzini, I understand what you are saying and thank goodness my parents weren’t in the porn industry, but I hope that if you would be embarrassed by your mother’s profession I hope you would equally be embarrassed by your father’s poor choice in choosing such a mother for you. I don’t know why I sound like I am defending this woman, because I am not, I am just tired of people runnig to court when if they had had the good sense not to create children with losers in the first place the kids wouldn’t be in such bad situations.
TG-
No, I know what you mean and I agree. I also cannot understand why people have kids with losers and deadbeats, because the child is the one to suffer. I do wish people would think with their big heads, not their little ones, but apparently that’s never gonna happen. And children will continue to suffer for their idiot parent’s mistakes.
I Agree Chicken Tetrazzini. Let’s be glad we aren’t in this situation. Hopefully little Sunny will grow up feeling loved.
Janine is constantly making bad choices and the new husband isn’t helping. Not sure if this guy’s rap sheet includes child abuse, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving that baby with that ex-con. I don’t think Janine is stable enough to care for her daughter. She is in good hands with Sandra.
Jenny McCartney was an adult star – and from what I’ve read, she’s been a GREAT mother to her own kids, and one of them has autism.
The fact that Janine is an adult star who has jumped back into the industry is just harming her already unstable image. She’s a crazy, unstable loon, and an unfit parent. It’s as simple as that.
Honestly, just put Jenny and Janine side by side, and compare and contrast their accomplishments…the answer is right there. If Janine is telling a six year old child about what’s going on in prison, then that crazy woman really needs to be cut out of Sunny’s life – it would be for the better. She’ll have a great life with her dad and Sandra
singerinwhite – I understand where you are trying to go here, but there are a few things wrong, in addition to the fact Jenny’s last name is McCarthy. Jenny wasn’t a porn star (she appeared in Playboy) and she only has one kid. I have heard she is a good mother and I actually like her, but there are some people out there who might disagree that she is a good mom (I am about to open a can of worms here), given the fact that she advocates children not being vaccinated for fear of autism. Now there are kids who are dying of measles, which would have never happened had they had their MMR shots. Recently it came out that the initial study that linked the vaccine to autism was found to be a conflict of interest and a “manipulation of data.”
Anyhoodle…I think Sunny shouldn’t be around her mom, not because I think porn stars are bad people necessarily, but she seems to 1) associate herself with other bad people and 2) she bails on her commitments with her daughter. To me, continuously letting her down like that doesn’t show that she really wants to be part of her life…
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merci admin.. thanks.