Lisa Wu Hartwell of The Real Housewives of Atlanta is scheduled to be in Fulton County (Georgia) court in just over a month to argue for sole custody of her 14- and 11-year-old sons by R&B singer Keith Sweat. Sweat and Hartwell were married from 1991 until their final split in 2002. (Between the two, there were five divorce filings before the final filing in August 2002.) The ensuing divorce was apparently very ugly with allegations of infidelity, violence, fraud and more. Ultimately, the judge in that case awarded sole legal and physical custody of the boys to Sweat.
Now remarried, mother to a 2-year-old son by current husband Ed Hartwell and star of a popular reality show, Lisa Wu Hartwell wants custody of her older sons. She filed a motion to modify the custody order in February and the court has set the case for trial on October 5. “I’ve already been seeing them four or five times a week, but now the time has come when I want to have them with me full-time,” she told Star magazine.
Interestingly, Hartwell also told Star, “I immediately filed for an appeal after the verdict, but I was never given a court date in five years. I’ve been afraid of the judicial system, but I’m finally taking the bull by the horns and trying to get my boys back again!” I find it highly unlikely that any appeal she may have filed just slipped through the cracks and she “was never given a court date”. Her statement may be technically true but it may be that her case did not legally warrant a hearing.
Her statement that she was “afraid of the judicial system” is also interesting. She filed for divorce from Sweat at least three times and filed for bankruptcy in 2005. In the bankruptcy, she successfully got out from under over $500,000 in debt – including $150,000 in lawyer’s fees, $150,000 owed to Sweat and $189,000 on a foreclosed mortgage.
Frankly, Hartwell’s motives seem a bit suspect, especially when she makes comments to the tabloids about having her older sons appear on the Real Housewives show. Sweat has refused to sign a waiver to allow the boys to appear on the show. Hartwell tells Star that, if she’s successful in her bid for custody, Jordan and Justin will appear on the show.
“If Keith has a hang-up about our sons being on TV, I would be fine with that. But Real Housewives is supposed to be a reality series, and the reality is that all the fans watching believe I only have one child,” Hartwell commented. “Jordan and Justin understand what the show involves, and they’d love to do it. I adore all three of my sons — and I believe they all have a rightful place on the show.” I imagine that the family court judge will be interested to hear that she intends to have them take their “rightful place” if she is awarded custody.
As I’ve opined before, I will be very surprised if the court awards Hartwell sole legal and physical custody of the boys. If the court believes she has her life back in order, it may very well modify custody to allow for joint legal custody with a liberal parenting schedule – but it would most certainly not punish Sweat by taking all custody rights away from him. (And, I’m guessing that the boys’ potential appearance on the TV show will be a topic of discussion at the hearing. Sweat would likely have to agree to have them appear, even if joint custody is granted.)
3 Comments
She’s a golddigger. Her current husband is not working. The Real Housewives is about to “run it’s course” and she has no other income. She NEEDS the child support money the boys will bring with them to keep up her lifestyle.
OOOO get a life! Don’t know all of the facts but I guess you have not done your research and know that she is a successful real-estate agent and she is not suffereing or hurting I don’t think! The type of houses she is selling is more than you probably would ever be able to have!
If the houses she was selling were worth all that money then she and Ed wouldn’t be foreclosing on there’s. She can’t even afford to live in the same neighborhood with Nene and the gang. A successful real estate agent doesn’t have to waste their time on bogus clothing lines like Closet Freak. That should be a hobby. GOLD DIGGA