Sherri Shepherd Allegedly Wants Her Money More Than Her Surrogate Baby
So far 2014 has NOT been a good year for Sherri Shepherd. Not only did she lose her cushy position on The View, reportedly due to a breakdown in contract negotiations, but last month she abruptly filed for divorce from her husband of four years, Lamar Sally. That alone would be a lot to deal with, but on top of that there is the Sherri Shepherd surrogate baby fiasco to contend with. Allegedly She and Sally are expecting a baby via surrogate in just a few weeks; a baby that Shepherd now claims she wants nothing to do with. And this is where my inner-sanctimommy comes out. While I strongly believe in a woman’s right to choose, I also think it’s beyond unethical to walk away from a baby you created via IVF because it’s suddenly not convenient anymore. Especially if there is any truth to the accusations that Shepherd is doing so to avoid child support payments.
I think it goes without saying that I’m gonna go ahead and take these reports with a gigantic grain of salt, seeing as they’re coming from bastions of journalistic integrity like TMZ, US Weekly and The Daily
According to TMZ:
“Now here’s where it gets tricky. We’re told Sherri does not want custody or even to be considered a parent … because she doesn’t want to get stuck with massive child support payments.
Sherri wants a judge to rule she has no parental rights or responsibilities — which would shut the door to child support. She claims Lamar defrauded her — that he got her to sign on for a surrogate birth knowing full well he would divorce her and then nail her to the wall for child support.
Our Lamar sources say Sherri tried to get pregnant in vitro and when it didn’t work she got deeply involved in the surrogacy process.
Another twist … Sherri has filed for divorce in New Jersey and Lamar has filed in California. This is not a coincidence. We did some digging, and found New Jersey courts generally do NOT recognize surrogacy agreements, which means Lamar would probably be shut down. Not so in Cali.”
If what TMZ is claiming is true and Lamar Sally essentially tricked Shepherd into having a child, that’s pretty monstrous on his part. But I fail to see how that makes Shepherd any less responsible. This reminds me of cases where the roles are reversed and it’s the woman being accused of using trickery to get pregnant by a man. In those cases the courts still typically consider the biological father liable. And while Shepherd might not technically be biologically tied to this child, I think in this particular case that fact is irrelevant. Sherri Shepherd, along with her husband, is still responsible for that child existing. Shepherd and Sally both equally and purposefully decided to pay for IVF and a surrogate to have this child. Without Shepherd this child wouldn’t exist, and I think ethically, if not legally, she holds at least some responsibility to it.
*UPDATE*
Just to clarify, according to unsubstantiated reports from TMZ, US Weekly and The Daily Mail, Shepherd and Sally used an egg donor, hence Shepherd not being biologically connected to the child. But an official statement from Shepherd hasn’t been released yet.
(Photo: Getty Images)
