• June 04, 2007
• Vol. 67
• No. 22

A Bitter Divorce

By Rennie Dyball

Anne Heche and Coley Laffoon Wage War in Court: He Calls Her a Poor Parent; She Says He's Only After Her Money

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From PEOPLE Magazine

When Anne Heche and Coley Laffoon's split after five years of marriage became public in January, the actress's new relationship with her Men in Trees costar James Tupper made the headlines. Now the former couple are turning the spotlight on each other—and it's getting nasty. In court papers released May 17, Laffoon, 33, stated that Heche, 38, demonstrated "bizarre and delusional behavior" and questioned her ability to parent their 5-year-old son Homer. "I have serious concerns about whether she is psychologically capable of caring for Homer for an extended period of time," said Laffoon. (Heche wrote about her past struggles with mental illness in her memoir Call Me Crazy.) The former videographer, who said he quit a $6,000-a-year job to take care of Homer, is seeking primary custody, plus at least $28,000 in monthly support and $9,877 per month for a mortgage payment.

Heche fired back through her publicist, who in a statement said, "It is disappointing that Coley Laffoon has resorted to filing lies with the court because Anne would not cave in to his astronomical monetary demands.... For the past several years the child's father has refused to get a job in order to contribute financially to the child's care." Laffoon's lawyer Jon S. Summers tells PEOPLE, "Any suggestion that the statements were financially motivated is not only false, it's obscene."

Among Laffoon's monthly monetary requests: $1,000 for babysitting, $250 for massage and $1,000 for vacation (as he explained in the filings, "We always traveled first-class and stayed in luxurious hotels"). For now Homer will continue living with Laffoon and visiting Heche in Los Angeles (and Vancouver once Trees resumes shooting in July) while his parents' divorce plays out.

• Contributors:
• Howard Breuer/Los Angeles.