Raymond Hall/GC ImagesThis isn't the response Kelly Rutherford wanted.
The former Gossip Girl star appeared in a New York City court today as part of her drama-fueled custody battle over her two children with ex-husband Daniel Giersch. NBC News confirms that she has been ordered to send son Hermes, 8, and daughter Helena, 6, back to Monaco, where they've been living primarily with their dad since 2012. The kids will fly back with their grandmother as soon as they can get a flight.
"We are pleased that the American judicial system has prevailed," Giersch's attorney told E! News in a statement following the ruling. "Daniel's request to exclude the press today from the courtroom was granted, to protect the children's privacy. In addition, his stance of promoting Kelly's time with the children has not changed."
Rutherford was previously ordered to send her two children back to Monaco last Thursday. She refused, and appeared in court today to face the judge, who, according to People, reportedly became angry when Rutherford did not bring her children.
The mother of two was required to appear in court with her kids after a New York Supreme Court judge signed a writ of habeus corpus on Monday, which was filed by Giersch.
The 46-year-old star's lawyer told Judge Ellen Frances Gesmer that the children are "close by, maybe 10 minutes away" in order to protect them from the "media circus."
According to People, Gesmer told Rutherford that she does not "look kindly upon" the actress' refusal to comply with the court order, and Rutherford was immediately shut down when she tried to address the judge directly.
Giersch's mother also appeared in court; press were excused from the proceedings, as Gesmer "didn't want it to become a circus."
Since 2012, Rutherford's children have been living in Europe with her ex-husband, whom she divorced in 2010. The former couple previously shared custody of their children, but since Giersch's visa was revoked, the TV star has been forced to fly to France to see her kids (a California court previously ruled that the children must live abroad in order to uphold the joint custody agreement). In May, a judge ordered that the pair's two children fly to the United States to spend the summer with their mother.
Rutherford's custody battle took yet another turn this summer after both a Los Angeles judge, and later a judge in New York, ruled that they do not have jurisdiction over the case.
The decisions in California and New York "means no state in this country is currently protecting my children," Rutherford told E! News in a statement following the ruling. "It also means that no state in this country currently requires me to send the children away. Hence, I have decided that I cannot lawfully send my children away from the United States to live in a foreign country."
Following her refusal to return the child, Giersch's lawyer Fahi Takesh Hallin told E! News that they had prepared "papers to compel the return of the children to their father and are ready to file this application...in Supreme Court, New York County...We would prefer not to be compelled to do so as our client is seeking to minimize any harm that may befall the children by virtue of their being placed in the middle of another acrimonious court proceeding."
They did, however, ultimately file the writ of habeus corpus, and that is why Rutherford was compelled to appear today.
—Additional reporting by Lindsay Good and Senta Scarborough