Following her request to move their children to Germany, Seal slammed Heidi Klum’s “hidden agenda” in their custody battle. According to the 57-year-old British singer, whose real name is Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel, his ex-wife’s plans to move to Germany with his children will ultimately hurt their “close bond.”
“I believe Heidi has a hidden agenda to move the children to Germany,” Seal writes in legal documents obtained by Hollywood Life on August 24. “Notwithstanding Heidi’s request, if granted, could in effect move the children away from me and their home here in Los Angeles to Germany for what could be an indefinite period of time given the uncertainty of the impact of COVID-19 on this country’s and Germany’s travel restrictions which could change at any time and prevent the children from leaving Germany or entering the United States,” the statement reads.
These comments come days after the 47-year-old America’s Got Talent judge submitted court documents requesting an emergency hearing to address traveling with their children to Germany, where production on season 16 of her talent competition-based series is expected to resume. While the series has typically filmed in Los Angeles, the show is moving to Europe to avoid social distancing restrictions still necessary for crew members here in the United States.
The former model noted in her original documents, retrieved on August 21, that she was “well aware of all of the necessary precautions associated with the COVID-19 virus, and would never put our children at risk — I have taken all the precautions for Germany the same way I do in the United States.” She petitioned the court when her ex-husband and father to their four kids—Helene, 16, Henry, 14, Johan, 13, and Lou, 10—had “not yet approved of this trip.”
At the time, Klum claimed that she and her ex-husband, who got divorced in 2014, have joint custody. “I tried to work this out with Henry directly to no avail,” she wrote at the time, adding that she has offered opportunities for Seal to visit and spend time with his children in Germany. “There will be a three-week break for the Christmas holidays,” she wrote in her documents, suggesting she could “agree that Henry spend the Christmas break with them again this year so that the children can be with their father during this time, if Henry would like this… he would be able to visit the children while they are in Germany if he wishes to do so.” The documents also included declarations from Klum and Seal’s children, suggesting that they would like to go to Germany with her. But Klum added insult to injury when she alleged that Seal’s time spent with their children was “sporadic at best.”
The singer appeared to take issue with these claims, accusing his ex-wife of her “hidden agenda” in his retort filed on August 19. “I have always shared a close bond with our children. I try to spend as much time as possible with our children when I am not working (including touring prior to the pandemic),” Seal writes in response. “Although I do not have a regular custodial schedule with the children, I have made it a point to be as involved in the children’s lives as I can.” The singer went on to express his worries about the “permanent impact” that his children moving to Germany might have on their relationship. “Heidi is a celebrity and a German national and I am concerned that if she is allowed to take the children to Germany, she may unilaterally decide not to return them to the United States.”