Someone read Anne Heche's autobiography, Call Me Crazy, cover to cover.
Earlier this month, Heche's estranged hubby, Coley Laffoon, filed court papers in which he expresses doubt as to whether the actress is "psychologically capable" of caring for their five-year-old son, Homer, and requests joint legal and primary physical custody of the boy, plus $33,000 a month in child support and no less than $15,000 in attorney fees.
Detailing myriad ways in which he has been the primary caregiver since Homer was born, Laffoon, 33, questions Heche's ability to parent in the face of her "bizarre and delusional behavior" and asks that a psych evaluation "be commenced immediately." (View the court documents.)
In documents filed May 2 in Los Angeles Superior Court and released Thursday, Laffoon cites an incident last September in which he and Homer were staying in Vancouver and Heche, 37, who was on her way back from New York and was supposed to change planes in Los Angeles, called him around 11:30 p.m. sounding confused and saying she "didn't know where she was and that she needed help."
Because he was in Canada, Laffoon called Heche's L.A. publicist and asked if she could go look for her. The publicist wasn't able to find her, Laffoon states, but the next day Heche returned to Vancouver and acted as if nothing had happened.
Per the filing, Heche, who stars on the ABC series Men in Trees, makes about $81,000 per episode, so she should be well-equipped to meet his demands, which have been calculated according to the "marital standard of living" the couple became accustomed to.
Heche fired back via a statement released by publicist Lisa Kasteler Thursday, saying that Laffoon is going after her in court because she wouldn't pay him the original $45,000 a month he had asked for.
"It is disappointing that Coley Laffoon has resorted to filing lies with the court because Anne would not cave in to his astronomical money demands," read the statement. "For the past several years, the child's father has refused to get a job in order to contribute financially to the child's care."
Laffoon, a freelance videographer who met Heche while he was working on a documentary about Ellen DeGeneres, says that he stopped working to be a stay-at-home dad and he has hardly been away from his son for more than three or four nights at a time, minus two trips to Vancouver Homer has taken since the couple's split to be with his mom, during which she made "some very poor parenting decisions."
On those trips, Laffoon alleges, Homer had nightmares that have continued since he returned to L.A. and he has become "unusually clingy."
Now, the filing states, Heche wants Homer to move to Vancouver and attend school there, and Laffoon suspects that her "anger toward me has clouded her ability to think rationally about what is in Homer's best interest."
The disgruntled dad alleges that while he has created a stable home life for Homer—getting him ready for school, packing his lunch, planning his birthdays, buying groceries and "ensuring that [his] emotional needs are met"—Heche's time spent with the boy before leaving for Vancouver was largely about having fun and that Laffoon is the one who keeps Heche apprised of their son's day-to-day activities.
Laffoon also states that, contrary to a therapist's advice to keep her new romantic attachment quiet for now, Heche introduced Homer to her new boyfriend, Men in Trees costar James Tupper, and that she and Tupper slept in the same bed and had the child take a shower with them (all were wearing bathing suits at a public swimming pool at the time, Heche said).
Homer's mom also didn't abide by their previously agreed-upon two-calls-a-day rule and, according to Laffoon's filing, often didn't let Homer come to the phone when his dad called.
Laffoon filed for divorce Feb. 1, nine days after the couple confirmed they had split up due to irreconcilable differences. He and Heche tied the knot in September 2001.
Just after she and Laffoon parted ways, Heche was linked to Tupper, 41, who had separated from his own wife in November. The two have since stated that things didn't turn romantic until they were both single.