Rosie O’Donnel and wife Michelle Rounds are not having an easy time in their divorce proceedings, which have recently turned contentious. Michelle is seeking full custody of the 2-year-old daughter the couple adopted during the course of their 3-year marriage. Michelle says that Rosie is unfit to be a mother of their child; however, Rosie is accusing Michelle of using the child as leverage to get more money in their division of assets proceedings.
Michelle is saying that Rosie neglects the toddler and her parenting philosophy is lazy. She has also accused the comedian and talk show host of drinking too much alcohol and smoking and eating too much marijuana for recreational purposes. She even said that Rosie gave permission to her 19-year-old son to throw a party that involved underage drinking.
Michelle has accused Rosie of living in her own isolated world. Even though Rosie has employed nannies to assist in caring for her toddler, Michelle is of the opinion that the comedian should help more with everyday child rearing tasks.
Attorneys representing Michelle have filed formal paper work in court to demand full custody of the child based on the above-referenced concerns. Nevertheless, Rosie’s representatives have responded by saying that Michelle is using the child to gain monetarily.
Lazy parenting philosophy and substance abuse are commonly cited in Pennsylvania child custody disputes when one parent is seeking full custody of a child. Also, as Rosie’s camp suggests, child custody issues could potentially be used as leverage when trying to get more money in divorce settlement negotiations, from a spouse who is desperate to maintain custody of a child. Whether this is happening in this case or not is unknown, but Michelle claims that she is independently wealthy and a millionaire from her prior business pursuits; she claims that she will gladly leave Rosie’s money behind if it means she gets full custody.
Source: breitbart.com, “Rosie O’Donnell’s estranged wife wants full custody because she claims Rosie smokes weed, drinks too much,” Kipp Jones, April. 30, 2015