Celeb custody battles
By Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
After a year and a half, it appears Britney Spears and Kevin Federline are nearing a resolution to their long custody battle.
Spears and Federline are not the first celebrities to have the nasty twists and turns of their custody dispute reported blow by blow in the media. Heres a list of some unfortunate trailblazers. (Danny Moloshok / AP)
David Hasselhoff and Pamela Beach
So you thought Hasselhoff had ruined his chance to win the long-running custody battle with ex-wife Beach when that embarrassing video of the former Baywatch star drunk and trying to eat a cheeseburger made the rounds on the Internet? Hasselhoff did get a hold put on his visiting privileges for a while, but in June he won legal custody of his two teenage daughters. Hasselhoff was delighted but, more interestingly, Beach seemed happy as well. The system works, said her lawyer after the courts decision was made public. The truth will be told, added Beach, cryptically. (Tina Fineberg / Associated Press)
Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston
In April, the courts determined that Houston should have sole custody of the couples 14-year-old daughter. But Brown, who said he was his daughters primary caretaker, has been working to reverse the ruling. He said Houston had kept him from seeing his daughter since June. The goal is to see her a lot more and to be involved in the decision-making in her life, the places she goes, the people she hangs out with. All of that,” Brown said. (Laura Rauch / Associated Press)
Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee
At the dawn of the new century, on-again, off-again Anderson and Lee had a protracted court fight over their children. Anderson wanted full custody, but she also asked that a court monitor be present when Lee saw the children. That request was rejected. I think it was fair. I just want to be with my kids, Lee said. Anderson won on some points, though. The court ruled that Lee couldnt take the children on his motorcycle. (Kevork Djansezian / Associated Press)
Lorraine Bracco and Harvey Keitel
Bracco and Keitel never married, but they had a daughter, Stella. When Bracco left Keitel in 1991 for actor Edward James Olmos, both parties accused each other of drug use. Ultimately, Bracco was given custody of Stella. But a few years later they were back in court when Keitel learned that Olmos had been accused of fondling a 14-year-old girl. (Olmos denies the accusation, though he paid the girls family $150,000.) Bracco, who was aware of the alleged incident, did not tell Keitel, who went back to court because of what he called a cover-up. (Robert Caplin / For The Times)
Larry Birkhead, Howard K. Stern, Frederic Prinz von Anhult and others
Anna Nicole Smiths daughter, Dannielynn, just celebrated her first birthday, and what an unfortunate year it has been. She lost her mother, her stepbrother and, unbeknownst to her, was the object of a custody battle/paternity suit filed by a group of crazy characters. Before her death, Smith indicated that lawyer-turned-husband Stern fathered the baby, but photographer Birkhead never stopped believing he was the father. Things got really crazy when Prinz von Anhult claimed he was the father. In April, the results of a DNA test found that Birkhead was indeed the father. (Christine Aylen / Associated Press)
