Sophie Turner is suing her estranged husband, singer Joe Jonas, over the alleged “wrongful retention” of their two children after he refused to hand over their passports.
The couple revealed earlier this month that they were going their separate ways after the “breakdown of the marriage happened very suddenly,” according to Turner’s lawsuit.
She also claimed to have learned through the media that Jonas had filed for divorce and that was four days after he actually filed in Florida. The lawsuit claimed the couple had an argument on August 15 and their marriage went downhill from there.
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Turner’s lawyers filed the lawsuit in New York’s Southern District on Thursday where they invoked the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction for the alleged “wrongful retention” of the couple’s two children, Willa, three, and DJ, 14 months.
The Game of Thrones star wants to bring the children back to her native England which the couple had allegedly planned to make their “forever home,” before the marriage soured.
Newsweek contacted Jonas and Turner’s representatives by email for comment.
The couple decided the children would stay with Jonas in the U.S. during August while he was on tour with his band, The Jonas Brothers, as Turner was working on a “very intense” shoot in England. That meant the children had time with at least “one of their parents” during the day while they were awake and a nanny to look after them at other times.
She would then come to New York in September where they would spend time with the family until taking the girls back to England on the 20th of that month.
But after a meeting on September 17 to “discuss their separation,” Turner claims Jonas refused to give her the children’s passports and to consent to them traveling to England. They are currently staying with her at an address in New York.
“Joe and Sophie had a cordial meeting this past Sunday in New York, when Sophie came to New York to be with the kids. They have been with her since that meeting,” CNN quoted a representative for Jonas as saying in a statement. “Joe’s impression of the meeting was that they had reached an understanding that they would work together towards an amicable co-parenting setup.”
“His wish is that Sophie reconsider her harsh legal position and move forward in a more constructive and private manner. His only concern is the well-being of his children,” it added.
According to the lawsuit, the family had spent a lot of time in England and only moved there in April 2023 after years of living a “peripatetic lifestyle” due to the nature of their jobs.
But over Christmas 2022, while in England, Jonas and Turner decided to move there as their permanent base because they “regarded England as a safe location to raise their children.” They even began the process to buy a house in Oxford in the “English country surroundings,” and reportedly were “excited” to live there.
Even though they had bought a house in Miami in 2021, they never planned to live there long-term and had only stayed there three times for a total of 11 weeks since buying the home.
The lawsuit argued the children were “involved and integrated in all aspects of daily and cultural life in England” where they “receive routine medical care and dental care in England.”
It also revealed Willa and DJ had been attending classes at the Playbox
Theatre Company, the same one Turner joined when she was three years old.
Turner and Jonas met in 2016 when she was 20 and he was 27 while he was on tour in the U.K with his other band, DNCE. They became engaged in October 2017 and eloped in Las Vegas in May 2019.
The couple later celebrated their wedding with family and friends in Provence, France, in June of that year.
After much speculation, the couple announced in a joint Instagram post they were splitting up.
“A statement from the two of us. After four wonderful years of marriage we have mutually decided to amicably end our marriage,” their statement began.
“There are many speculative narratives as to why but, truly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children.”