Another battle. Meghan King fired back after ex-husband Jim Edmonds filed legal documents requesting to modify their custody arrangement.
“I’ve been the primary parent and single mother of my children for 6 years,” the Real Housewives of Orange County alum, 38, told Us Weekly in a statement on Tuesday, March 28. “He and his team’s wild claims are untrue, and anyone who is close with me or my children can attest to that — my children have always been and will remain my top priority.”
Earlier this month, the former baseball player, 52, filed for split custody of his and King’s three children: daughter Aspen, 6, and twins Hayes and Hart, 4. In court documents obtained by People, Edmonds claimed that the duo’s current agreement for arranging physical custody is “impractical and unworkable.”
Under the current setup, the former couple each submit their custody schedule 30 days in advance until they agree on their days for the month or until a Parent Coordinator intervenes if they can’t come to an agreement themselves.
In the filing, Edmonds’ legal team claimed that he sometimes agrees to days that don’t work with his schedule because of the “practical limitations of seeking the Parent Coordinator’s guidance with each monthly disagreement.”
The retired MLB star also slammed his ex-wife in a statement to Us, calling her “unstable, unfit [and] unwilling to coparent and unable to provide an environment for the children that is emotionally and physically safe.”
He went on to accuse King of “intentionally creating obstacles in an effort to put distance” between him and the kids. “Jim has filed a motion with the court to modify the current custody agreement that will give him a greater amount of time with the three children and a more consistent schedule,” he and wife Kortnie O’Connor continued in their statement. “If Meghan is unable to effectively parent and coparent under this new agreement, Jim is prepared to continue to seek greater custody of the children to ensure their emotional and physical well-being.”
King defended her parenting skills during an interview with Page Six at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles on Monday, March 27. “I’m just continuing to be the best mom I can. So, to me, nothing will change or has changed,” she explained. “I’m just focused on my children, they’re always my No. 1 priority and they always will be. That’s all there is to it.”
The former athlete and the “Intimate Knowledge” podcast host tied the knot in October 2014. Edmonds filed for divorce in 2019, one day after the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary. The former St. Louis Cardinals center fielder later moved on with O’Connor, 38, whom he wed in September 2022.
Before his romance with King, Edmonds welcomed daughters Hayley and Lauren with ex-wife Lee Ann Horton, who died of cancer in 2015. He also shares son Landon and daughter Sutton with ex-wife Allison Jayne Raski, to whom he was married from 2008 to 2014.
King, for her part, wed Cuffe Owens in October 2021 after less than one month of dating. Two months later, the former Bravo personality confirmed that the pair had decided to split. “I am rattled. This situation is profoundly devastating,” she wrote via Instagram in December 2021. “This is obviously not what I imagined when I made my vows — and I’m shocked and saddened by the way things turned out. I am moving forward with my children as we privately process our pain and begin to let go of shattered dreams.”
The Missouri native revealed in July 2022 that her whirlwind marriage was officially annulled. “I was very confused by the whole [relationship], but I’m just glad that it was short and sweet and it’s done and it’s annulled. The end. I put it behind me,” King said during a July 2022 appearance on Caroline Stanbury‘s “Divorced Not Dead” podcast. “We rushed into it — I didn’t even want to get married again — but it was important to him.”
