What to Know
During a recent podcast appearance, Rumer Willis touched on moving on from a really challenging relationship. She didn’t elaborate a ton, but now, more details have come out via some new court documents.
Rumer and her ex-boyfriend, Derek Richard Thomas, are currently in the midst of a messy custody dispute. The exes welcomed a daughter named Louetta in April 2023.
In her documents, Rumer alleged that she cannot trust Derek to be a good parent to their daughter.
One of the reasons she highlighted was his alleged drug use, according to a report from Us Weekly. She accused him of abusing marijuana and also said that his volatile behavior suggests he might be using other drugs as well.
According to her, she told her ex that he couldn’t smoke weed at home after the birth of their child. So, instead, he would allegedly go somewhere else to smoke and then return “clearly high.”
While in this state, he allegedly could not be trusted to look after their child. She claimed that their daughter fell on the floor more than once due to his negligence.
“On one occasion when Louetta was a few months old, we were watching a movie and I went to the bathroom and asked him to watch her,” she claimed, per Us Weekly. “From the other room, I heard a thump, and I heard her crying, and I went in the room. He was so high, that he could not even watch her for those couple of minutes without her rolling off the couch.”
She mentioned another horrifying incident as well: “He let her fall off the bed once in November 2023. She was screaming. I was furious with him. He then made it all about him that I was upset about him letting her fall off the bed instead of just comforting her baby and helping her feel better.”
Derek denied these claims.
Although he admitted to using marijuana in the past, he said he does not use it currently. He also claimed that he never “(engaged) in the use of marijuana to such a degree as to render me unable to fully and properly fulfill my duties and obligations as Louetta’ s father.”
He pushed back on the neglect allegations too. “There has never been any legitimate question raised concerning my parenting or ability to meet Louetta’s every need,” he said. “Louetta has never suffered for any want in my care, has never been injured in any way, has not suffered trauma or emotional or physical abuse of any kind nor been neglected at any time she’s been in my care.”
Rumer also accused Derek of abuse.
She claimed he engaged in “horrible abusive and hostile behavior” on “a daily basis,” and in front of their child. According to Rumer, Louetta showed signs of being “traumatized” by Derek’s alleged emotional abuse during her first 14 months of life.
Now, Louetta is “calm” and “happy,” but previously, she cried frequently, seemed nervous, and struggled to sleep.
Because of Derek’s “known history of fighting in relationships, and in front of the child,” Rumer also doesn’t want Derek’s girlfriend around their daughter.
Derek, however, argued that he and his girlfriend both have a positive relationship with Louetta. He said he has “an excellent, loving and very supportive relationship with” her, and has been “consistently involved” as a father.
Meanwhile, he claims that Rumer took their daughter to Idaho without consulting him.
When Rumer and Louetta first made the move, he thought it was a temporary thing due to the wildfires in California. He was fine with it then, but claims Rumer never talked to him about the decision to stay there long-term.
Meanwhile, Rumer has claimed that Derek knew she planned on staying in Idaho with their daughter. She also said she’s given him the opportunity to visit and even helped him with transportation and housing.
During her recent appearance on The Inside Edit podcast, Rumer said she’s “just starting to feel back in my power, I would say in the last like 8 months, of feeling kind of confident and feeling back into myself after a really challenging relationship.”
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