Moment of truce for Uma
Feud ‘98% resolved’
Uma Thurman and her French financier ex-boyfriend aired their dirty laundry during a bitter, seven-day custody battle over their 4-year-old daughter — but are now poised to settle the matter themselves.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper gave the actress and Arpad “Arki” Busson one last chance on Monday to reach a settlement so he wouldn’t have to decide the fate of their daughter, Luna, for them.
After hours of negotiations between their attorneys, Cooper announced at around 4:30 p.m. that “98 percent of everything has been resolved.”
“My understanding, having spoken to the attorneys, is that we have made a huge amount of progress,” the judge said.
Cooper said he would speak to their lawyers Tuesday.
“If there’s a resolution, I’ll be happy to allocute it, but if not, we’ll deal with that when we come to it,” he said.
The judge acknowledged that both Thurman and Busson “made a lot of compromises.”
Afterward, Thurman, 46, who passed time in court knitting and eating Oreos, embraced her attorney, Eleanor Alter, and exclaimed, “I love this woman!”
“I think I have to collect my thoughts,” she told reporters. “It’s all good.”
Busson, 53, declined to comment, but his attorney, Peter Bronstein, said, “[He] is hopeful that we will be able to reach an amicable settlement.”
If the case is settled, it would be a quiet end to a knock-down-drag-out court battle that saw the “Kill Bill” star portraying her ex as an angry father with a prostitute addiction and Busson accusing her of mixing prescription drugs and booze.
Taking the stand Monday y morning, Busson denied claims s Thurman made last week and addressed a dispute over a $1.5 million engagement ring that he says she has refused to return.
He said Thurman initially wanted the ring to go into a trust for Luna and her two kids with the actor Ethan Hawke.
“I didn’t think, with the value of the ring, that two-thirds should go to her other children,” Busson testified. “That was shocking to me.”