Jaime King is speaking out for the first time since losing sole physical custody of her sons.
In a new episode of Whine Down with Jana Kramer, King, 45, broke her silence on the ongoing custody battle for her children. The Black Summer star expressed her fears of speaking openly about losing sole custody of sons James, 11, and Leo, 9, to ex-husband Kyle Newman.
“My duty as a mother is to protect my children. And that’s all that matters to me. This is scary,” King told Kramer, 41. Kramer also endured a custody battle for her two children, whom she shares with ex-husband Mike Caussin.
The actresses empathized with one another about the struggles of navigating the child custody system as single mothers. “I just didn’t know when I got married at a young age. I just didn’t know that that the world works like this. I didn’t know that legal systems work like this,” King said.
“And not to sound like some kind of neophyte, but I thought that, you know, when you choose to love someone, then you love that person. You build a family with them, and, you trust them,” King said of Newman, whom she wed in 2007.
“I agree with you on the legal system,” the One Tree Hill star said, before sharing her own experiences. “I’ve been in abusive relationships in the past and, you know, even from the comments to the system, it’s very messed up, and what they do to women and how they can turn it on us is mind-blowing.”
King reiterated that she had not previously spoken out on the custody loss for the sake of her children’s privacy. The actress later addressed recent claims that she was ordered to complete a six-month stint in a rehab facility.
“I’ve never had to think about myself as sober or not sober. I stopped using drugs at 17 or something,” said King. She went on to claim that her ex-husband misrepresented stories of her youth to the court in order to win custody of their sons.
PEOPLE previously obtained documents in March detailing King’s visitation rights. As of now, she is permitted to see her sons three times a week in hourly blocks.
An addendum to the court order showed that King is required to have supervised visitation because she has not completed a six-month drug/alcohol program, with weekly testing, aftercare, and a two-step program; a 26-week parenting program; individual counseling to address case issues; and conjoint counseling with minors, when the minors’ therapist deems it appropriate.
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King stated that she hopes to reform the child custody system after enduring challenges with it herself. “It’s terrifying, when to be able to be free means that you have to pay a very extreme price, and I’m not just talking about financially.”
“It’s very upsetting, and I will do everything in my power to change this system, and it’s not a will. I’m going to. There’s no price to pay for freedom.” the actress said.
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