Following her recent Sunday Night interview in which she opened up about her troubled relationship and bitter custody battle with entrepreneur Jean-David Blanc, Melissa George has made another emotional plea.
Speaking on KIIS FM’s Kyle & Jackie O this morning, the Aussie actress revealed she is still receiving hurtful text messages from Blanc regarding their sons Raphael, 3, and Solal, 1 and managing their 50/50 custody arrangement while she is still breastfeeding.
“He said, ‘As I told you and tried to explain to you, you must stop breastfeeding my son Solal otherwise you are going to destroy him,’” she read out on air.
“’He wakes up in the middle of the night asking for breast and not for milk, what do you want me to do,’” she continued. “’Unless you put your boobs in a bag, I don’t see any other solution.’”
An emotional Melissa then broke down as she spoke about breastfeeding her son.
“You can take my country — you can take my career — you can take whatever you want. But you take a breastfeeding child from his mother — and you make fun of the mother knowing that I have to pump my milk when I don’t have my babies for a week because I want him to be the one if he wants to give up or not. This is cruelty.”
The actress says she went to the police who questioned whether her son was too old to be breastfeeding.
During the interview, the Grey’s Anatomy star also opened up about the public backlash she has received since the Sunday Night interview, with hurtful critics labeling her a hypocrite.
The actress claimed the quote that people refer to about her wanting to distance herself from Australia, were never said.
“I never said that at all. We were laughing and I never said anything negative about my country,” George told Kyle & Jackie O’s KIIS FM radio show this morning. “It was all swapped around and put out of context,” she added.
“I think it’s obvious I’d rather be having a chardonnay in Perth or eating a vegemite sandwich than a croissant in Paris.”
The original quote in question, reported by Fairfax’s Christine Sams, allegedly came after the star became fed up with Australian press’ constant focus on her role on Home and Away.
“If they have nothing intelligent to say, please don’t speak to me any more. I’d rather be having a croissant and an espresso in Paris or walking my French bulldog in New York City,” she allegedly told Sams.
The quote received massive backlash and has haunted the actress ever since, most recently, last week when she came out asking for Australia’s help to get her children out of France.
While Sams has since apologised for publishing the quote, admitting she regrets using the words in her article because of the media storm they created, she stands by the words that were said.
“Melissa George did make those exact comments during an interview with The Sun-Herald in November 2012,” Sams told the Daily Mail today.
“I am sure she regrets making them, and I feel sorry for Melissa in her current situation, but I am baffled as to why she is now claiming she didn’t say those words, because she did.
“I understand she is under a lot of stress at the moment and looking to firm up her relationship with Australia. That doesn’t change the fact she said those exact words nearly five years ago and they were reported accurately.”
George did however, during her radio interview this morning, apologise for offending anyone, but admits she has more important things to worry about.
“I’m sorry if I offended anyone with my humour — I mean well.”
“It’s so not even important. To pinpoint something from 3-4 years ago really has no relevance to what’s going on now … there are children at stake, independent freedom, freedom of speech.”
As for what prompted her to go public with her situation in the first place, George says her custody battle with her ex over sons, Raphael and Solal ‘couldn’t be worse’.
George’s custody battle with Blanc continues
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact 1800 Respect (1800 737 732)
