Joe Jonas has hit back at claims by his estranged wife Sophie Turner that he has withheld their children’s passports and is refusing to let them travel to Britain.
The singer issued a statement rejecting any suggestion that he has “abducted” their two daughters amid a messy divorce.
Turner, 27, who starred in Game of Thrones, is suing Jonas to try to move the children back to her native country, according to court documents lodged on Thursday.
But Jonas, 34, said he wishes for a shared parenting arrangement for the good of the girls, aged three and 14 months.
A statement issued by a representative for Jonas said: “This is an unfortunate legal disagreement about a marriage that is sadly ending. When language like ‘abduction’ is used, it is misleading at best, and a serious abuse of the legal system at worst. The children were not abducted.
“After being in Joe’s care for the past three months at the agreement of both parties, the children are currently with their mother. Sophie is making this claim only to move the divorce proceedings to the UK and to remove the children from the US permanently.”
A joint statement from the former couple earlier this month described the decision to divorce as “amicable” and “mutually decided” after “four wonderful years of marriage”.
But documents filed to the US District Court in New York claimed their children have been wrongfully retained in the city since 20 September from “their habitual residence” in England.
The girls, who have dual citizenship, are with Turner, the papers said, with Jonas allegedly refusing to allow them to travel to England.
The documents said they are “fully involved” in daily life in England. Turner was spotted out in New York a second time last night with Taylor Swift, who also had a relationship with Jonas.
The couple have also have been ordered by a Florida court to attend a four hour parenting course, according to a report.
In an order seen by The Mirror, it read: “All parties to dissolution of marriage proceedings with minor children or to paternity proceedings shall be required to complete the Parent Education and Family Stabilization Course prior to the entry by the court of a final judgment.”
The Standard has contacted Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas’ representatives for comment.
The couple met in 2016 and married in Las Vegas in 2019.
Turner gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Willa, in July 2020, and their second, known as DJ, was born two years later.
