A couple weeks back, Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner and singer Joe Jonas announced that they were getting divorced after four years of marriage. “After four wonderful years of marriage we have mutually decided to amicably end our marriage,” read a joint statement from the couple. “There are many of speculative narratives as to why but, truly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children.”
That sounded like the couple were presenting a united front, but according to a report from NBC News, things are getting pretty ugly behind the scenes. Turner has filed a petition through the child abduction clauses of the Hague Convention, an international treaty adopted by more than 100 countries which aims to compel the return of a child taken by their parent from their country of “habitual residence.” Basically, she’s claiming that she and Jonas agreed that their two children would be raised in England and that he has “wrongfully retained” them.
Sophie Turner alleges that Joe Jonas has “wrongfully retained” their kids
This is serious stuff. Let’s go over a timeline of what Turner is claiming in her petition:
- According to Turner’s petition, she and Jonas made England their permanent home in April. They moved into a long-term rental in May and made arrangements to buy a place in July, with plans to move in there in December.
- Things got complicated in the summer, when Turner starting filming a new drama series in the U.K. Turner and Jonas decided that the kids would travel with Jonas and a nanny as he started his tour with the Jonas Brothers in the U.S. in late July. The plan was for the kids to stay with Jonas and his extended family until Turner finished filming her series in mid-September. Then she would travel to New York and return to the U.K. with the kids.
- Then, the couple had an argument on August 15. Sometime around September 1, Jonas filed for divorce. According to the petition, Turner didn’t learn about the divorce until September 5, through the media.
- Turner’s petition claims that Jonas’ divorce filings incorrectly claim that the children had resided in Florida for six months prior to the divorce filing.
- On September 17, Turner and Jonas met to discuss their separation, and Turner reiterated the earlier agreement they had made that they children would return to the U.K. that week. Jonas, who was in possession of the children’s passports, allegedly refused to hand them over, meaning the kids wouldn’t be allowed to leave the United States.
Turner’s petition claims that Jonas has refused to let the children go with their mother in “a breach of the Mother’s rights of custody under English law, England being the children’s habitual residence.” The petition says that the children, who have dual citizenship, are “fully involved and integrated” in daily life in England. The older child (they were born in 2020 and 2022) attends school in England and is involved in playdates and cultural activities.
Joe Jonas responds to Sophie Turner’s petition alleging that he is wrongfully retaining their children
A representative for Jonas put out a statement saying that Jonas’ “only concern is the well-being of his children.” The statement disputes that Turner was unaware that Jonas was filing for divorce and that the Florida court where the divorce was filed “restricts both parents from relocating the children,” meaning that Jonas would be in violation of that court if he handed over the kids’ passports, or at least that’s his reading of the situation.
Jonas claims that when he and Turner met in New York, his impression was that “they would work together towards an amicable co-parenting setup…Less than 24 hours later, Sophie advised that she wanted to take the children permanently to the UK,” the statement continued. “Thereafter, she demanded via this filing that Joe hand over the children’s passports so that she could take them out of the country immediately.”
The statement claims that Jonas “is of course also okay with the kids being raised both in the U.S. and the U.K…The children were not abducted. Sophie is making this claim only to move the divorce proceedings to the U.K. and to remove the children from the U.S. permanently.”
So this all got very ugly very fast. Whatever happens, I hope it works out for the kids, who are currently with Sophie Turner in New York, according to Turner’s filing.
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