Christina Ricci claims ex-husband James Hedegen refused to let son go on NYC trip

Christina Ricci is fighting back against her ex-husband James Heerdegen after he claimed he stopped her from taking a short trip with their son.

The 43-year-old actress, who currently stars in the hit thriller Yellowjackets, requested an emergency hearing to discuss the matter with a judge in court documents obtained by People.

In the filing, she claimed that Heerdegen initially had no objection to her taking their eight-year-old son, Freddie, to New York City, where she was apparently filming a project.

However, she says that at some point he changed his mind and banned their son from traveling with her.

In her filing, Ricci described her ex as “vengeful” and “retributive.”

What changed? Ricci noted that Freddie could have traveled to NYC with her sooner, but after she had to work a few extra days there, her ex allegedly objected

“Jimmy’s refusal to agree worries me as he was clearly vengeful and vengeful when he initially rejected my request to travel for the extra dates,” she wrote. “On Monday, June 19, 2023, Jimmy agreed to allow Freddie to travel with me, but apparently he still wants to wait until our hearing to discuss it.”

She added that the former couple had previously been on the same page about Freddie traveling to New York with her.

When he couldn’t see his son in person, Hedegen received daily video calls from him to keep in touch.

However, Ricci wrote that the movie or show she was working on changed her schedule and added a few extra days of shooting, forcing her to return to the Big Apple.

She claims her ex-husband refused to allow Freddie to travel with her for the remaining days of shooting when she asked for his permission.

The actress claimed Hedegen told her she was “emotionally abusive” Freddie, though he wanted them to discuss the matter further at a hearing scheduled for later that week.

“I’m afraid if the hearing doesn’t go in Jimmy’s direction, he’ll default,” Ricci claimed in her filings. “Jimmy’s behavior is deliberately causing me to incur unnecessary attorney fees and could impact my job and professional reputation.”

Presumably, any additional hearing with her attorney and preparing the filings and motions would only add to her legal costs.

Ricci and Heeerdegen – who also works in Hollywood as a cinematographer – met more than a decade ago while working on her quickly canceled series Pan Am, in which she starred alongside Margot Robbie, who was still two years away from her breakthrough role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.

The couple married in 2013, but Ricci filed for divorce in 2020. Their strained relationship was even more strained in January 2021, when the actress was issued a domestic violence restraining order against her ex-husband.

In a lawsuit at the time, she claimed that she had been “severely physically and emotionally abused” by Hedegen.

Worse, she said that “a lot of this abuse” was witnessed by their young son.

Heerdegen’s lawyer said in a statement at the time that his client “unequivocally denies all allegations of abuse by Ms Ricci that took place in 2020.”

Harsh words: She wrote in files that Heerdegen told her she was “emotionally abusive” their son when she asked to take him back to NYC for a few extra days. She said he wanted to discuss the matter at their next hearing; seen in 2019 in NYC

Fed up: Ricci asked for an emergency hearing to expedite the process, noting that she feared her ex would “renege” on their terms if a judge ruled against him; seen in November in Hollywood

Bad days: Ricci filed for divorce in 2020 and in January 2021 she got a restraining order against Hedegen. His lawyer has rejected her claims of physical and emotional abuse

Ricci was apparently still willing to make a visitation arrangement between Freddie and his father, despite her abuse allegations and her restraining order.

In April 2021, she and Heeerdegen came to a custody agreement during a previous production she worked on, in which her son would be allowed to travel to Vancouver.

Heerdegen continued to spend personal time with his son as part of his “regular monitored visiting time,” while his ex-wife paid for his travel and accommodation to also visit Canada.

In addition to his personal time, Hedegen received three more weekly 15-minute video calls with Freddie.