Jeff Lewis’ Heated Custody Battle with Ex Gage Edward Turns Ugly!

Jeff Lewis’ Heated Custody Battle with Ex Gage Edward Turns Ugly!

Jeff Lewis shared details about his ongoing custody battle with his ex-boyfriend, Gage Edward, during a recent episode of his SiriusXM radio show, “Jeff Lewis Live.” 

The designer also addressed why he decided against filming scenes with his longtime pal, Shannon Beador, for the upcoming Season 18 of the “Real Housewives of Orange County.” 

“My ex and I, it’s a bit contentious. We have to communicate on our family wizard, which is this app, and then we also have to communicate through our attorneys,” the “Flipping Out” alum explained. 

He admitted that he and Gage were not on good terms, but did recently come together for the good of their 7-year-old daughter, Monroe. 

Jeff recalled — “Monroe, when I dropped her off, she was telling me in the car, I drop her off on Sunday at Gage’s, she’s like ‘Daddy, I don’t feel good.’ She didn’t eat all morning. And I’m like, ‘Do you feel nauseous?’ And she’s like ‘Yeah.’ I go, ‘Oh my God. Don’t throw up in my car. Then she goes, ‘I threw up in my daddy Gage’s car and he didn’t get mad.’ I said, ‘I’m not gonna get mad, but can you please give me a warning because I can roll down the window or I can pull over.’”

Jeff, 53, shared that after driving to Gage’s house he opened the door before Monroe “[threw] up everywhere.” He added that he and Gage worked together to help and comfort their daughter. 

“We don’t really look at each other. We don’t speak or whatever, but we immediately jumped into daddy mode and we were, like, getting napkins, wiping her face, like, ‘Are you okay?’ Together. We were like taking care of her, which was awesome,” Jeff shared. “I was like, ‘I wish we could co-parent like this all the time.’”

Jeff added that he even received updates on Monroe’s condition after leaving her with Gage.

“I texted him later like, ‘I’m really worried about Monroe. How’s she doing?’ He gives me a full update. Then later, I text him again, gives me a full update, then without me texting him on Monday, he sends me a text … We haven’t texted since January,” Jeff said. “He sends me a full-on text, how she’s doing, everything, and I so appreciate that so whenever things go well, I always want to give him props and thank him. That said, so I really appreciate that.” 

Jeff said that the goodwill was short-lived after their daughter recovered from her illness. 

He noted that he sent Gage a “very nice message” via their family app, regarding upcoming spring break plans. 

Jeff shared — “[He] doesn’t even open the family Wizard. He still hasn’t opened it. It’s been two weeks. So then unfortunately I had to engage with the attorneys and then the attorneys had to reach out about spring break. One thousand dollars an hour to figure out the dates for spring break.”

Jeff added that he received a message after putting his request in writing. 

The message read — “We are not currently in a position to respond to Jeff’s request. Given the debacle surrounding the parties’ last vacation, there is a need to define what constitutes vacation time. Furthermore, we had begun discussions regarding certain holidays, which I feel we should resume before embarking on a vacation schedule that potentially overlaps the Easter holiday.”

Jeff explained that he had attempted to work out an agreement with Gage directly, but his ex wouldn’t hash things out without their respective  attorneys. 

Jeff also claimed that his lawyer was frustrated by Gage’s behavior. The attorney allegedly categorized Gage in the “top two most vindictive, unreasonable, unrationable people I’ve ever dealt with. He’s closing in on top one.”

Jeff referred to himself as “a hostage,” adding — “I’m in handcuffs.”

Jeff also spilled the backstory behind his decision to back out of a cameo appearance on RHOC. 

“I was supposed to film today for ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’ and it was like a big lunch with Shannon,” he revealed. “They wanted me to do it because I’m very close with Shannon. I know all the details of the [DUI arrest], the John Janssen relationship, I know everything. We’re pretty close. So it was gonna be kind of an important deal, I think, for us to sit down and discuss these things.”

Jeff explained that he was not comfortable with the terms surrounding his appearance. 

“When we did the release, they wouldn’t indemnify me. And in turn, I wouldn’t indemnify them,” the former Bravo star said. “So what that means is basically if I say something and I get sued, they’re not gonna protect me and then in turn, if I say something, they’re expecting me to be responsible if they got sued. So my attorney’s like, ‘I don’t know what you’re getting out of this. You’re not getting paid, you got a TV show, you got a radio show. Why do you need to do this?’ And I said, ‘Well, I wanted to help Shannon but if they’re not gonna protect me…’ and then I was thinking, if in the edit, they could make me… They may not protect me in the edit because they have nothing to lose. I have everything to lose. So I’m like ’No. I’m not doing this. Why would I do this?’”

Jeff added — “I need to know that they’re on the hook too. That way, in the edit, God forbid I say something defamatory, that they’ll keep it out so nobody gets sued. I don’t feel protected. I don’t feel safe. I’m not doing it.”

The Real Housewives of Orange County is currently in production. 

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Avigail is an Entertainment blogger at All About The Tea, who specializes in The Real Housewives of Atlanta and The Real Housewives of Potomac. Avigail has a background in marketing. She’s a Brooklynite living in the Bahamas, with a passion for travel, writing, reality TV watching, pop culture and spoken word.