Flipping Out Again! Jeff Lewis Slams Ex Gage Edward During Bitter Custody Battle
Oct. 9 2019, Published 9:58 p.m. ET
Jeff Lewis has blasted his former boyfriend Gage Edward during their bitter custody battle over daughter Monroe.
According to Lewis, "I literally put my face in my hands and I thought this guy's going to torture me for the rest of my life. I'm a prisoner."
As he interviewed Brooke Burke during his SiriusXM show Jeff Lewis Live this week, the Flipping Out star, 49, told fans about his struggle with his ex.
Lewis and Edward never officially tied the knot, but were together for 10 years and welcomed Monroe, now 2 /12, via surrogate in October 2016. The star announced this January that he and business manager Edward had broken up.
Edward moved out of the family home and into an apartment at that time, Lewis said. He's also claimed on his SiriusXM radio show that Edward has since started dating a man he met at the gym, although his ex has not spoken publicly about his relationship status.
As RadarOnline.com reported in August, the two finally reached a temporary custody agreement.
Since then, Lewis and Edward, 35, have been co-parenting Monroe.
But it's been difficult and isn't really working, as Lewis alleged on his radio show.
"For her best interest, I have been fighting for the majority of the custody because I'm very realistic about how much time we can both spend with her," the real estate expert noted.
"And I said, 'Look, I have the house, I have the infrastructure, I've got the play room, I've got the pool, I've got the back yard. I've got the whole thing, plus, I've got the nanny, I've got the house keeper.'
"All the different classes in her school are within two miles of my house."
Lewis told former Dancing with the Stars co-host Burke, "I've made the choice to live in Sherman Oaks, to live in this house 150 percent for my child. And so you've gotta understand, every day, everything I do, she's on my mind 24/7 and she's never not been on my mind."
The reality TV star asked Burke rhetorically, "What if you knew that 50/50 was not the best situation for her?"
Lewis went on to say the custody situation with Edward is a nightmare.
"There is nothing in place. All we have is a temporary legal custody schedule," he's complained.
Also, the fight is taking a huge financial toll on both men, Lewis contended.
"We are in this combined at $80,000. We have nothing in place, nothing. We don't have financial settlement, we have nothing. And we're already at $80,000.
"I have begged him to work this out together, but what happens sometimes in all honesty I feel like I'm co-parenting my child with a child and what happens is he takes his marbles and he goes home," Lewis said. "And then he calls the attorneys and gets all the attorneys involved and all I can think is, $550 to $650 an hour."
Lewis said that this weekend, he saw "red flags" with Edward.
"We were getting along great after the temporary schedule was in place. Then there was an episode. He kind of acted out last week, then we had an argument, then we patched things up. We had a great week. We started really sort of deeply talking about what is the permanent custody look like, the whole thing."
But Lewis claimed Edward might be listening to his new boyfriend during the custody situation.
"On Sunday, we had a call scheduled. Everything we discussed was changed and I think what happens is, I think he goes and he consults someone. I don't know if it's—I call him the homewrecker, the boyfriend or a good friend or whatever--but suddenly, everything he has talked about is now off the table. So I spent two hours, three phone calls on Sunday—which, by the way, takes away time from my business, my daughter, for everything—to put it all back together. I feel like we're on the same page. I said, 'put it together in an email, let me look at it.' Six hours later, I get an email from him, saying 'None of this works. I think the attorneys should handle it.' It's like inconsistency. It's like somebody's speaking to him in his ear…."
Lewis told divorced-with-kids star Burke, "The thing that's scaring me is…I never ever consider hours or percentages. He's like, well, that only gives me 46 percent and that gives me X many of hours per week. I'm like what the f*** you talking about. Who cares?"
He added jokingly on the SiriusXM show, "This is a very uplifting Jeff Lewis Live."
A source previously told RadarOnline.com that as far as Edward is concerned, his ex-beau's "oversharing is just making him look like an idiot. Gage is just so glad that he got rid of Jeff because he is done with these childish games now.”