Dennis Hopper is involved in his own bitter California child custody dispute with soon to be ex-wife, Victoria Duffy. Hopper, 73, who is undergoing chemotherapy for advanced, metastasized prostate cancer, filed declarations along with his children, doctors and assistant in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday.
The director and co-star of "Easy Rider" filed for a California divorce from Duffy, 42, on January 14, and said in a subsequent statement that he wanted to spend "these difficult days surrounded by my children and close friends."
The California divorce battle is largely a tug-of-war over the couple's daughter, Galen. Hopper hopes a judge will mandate daily visitation, because he claimed Duffy had taken her away from him for extended periods. From an Orange County divorce attorney's perspective, it is not adviseable to deny the other parent frequent and continuing contact with the child.
Court documents details a lot of screaming and shouting among the inhabitants of Hopper's five-home compound in the coastal Los Angeles suburb of Venice, with Duffy cast as the villain.
Duffy is variously described as "extremely volatile" "insane and out of her mind," and "inhuman." Her husband of 13 years, meanwhile, has shrunk to 120 pounds (54 kg) and vomits after taking his medication, according to the papers.
"Victoria has made my father's life a living hell over at least the last six months," said a deposition from Henry Hopper, the actor's 19-year-old son with his fourth wife.
The teen, also an actor, was accused by Duffy last year of stealing some of his father's priceless artworks. She changed the locks at the compound to keep him out. They were later found in a basement where they had long been in storage, the documents said.
For his part, Dennis Hopper said he spent Christmas "in utter distress" after Duffy had spirited their daughter Galen to Boston, a trip he learned about from her attorney.
From an Orange County divorce lawyer point of view, child custody disputes can get pretty ugly. If in fact Duffy unilaterally whisked the daughter away from Los Angeles to Boston and Hopper only learned about it through his attorney after the fact, it was probably done in violation of the Automatic Temporary Restraining Order set forth in the Summons filed on January 14, 2010. In any event, a Costa Mesa divorce attorney can assist in any child custody disputes.
Source: Yahoo News: Dennis Hopper divorce battle getting uglier
