Judge advises divorce, diet for actor
A Well-known soapie actor who took his wife to court to force her to let him see their daughter has been told to divorce her first – and maybe go on a diet too.
Yesterday the actor, who cannot be named to protect the identity of their eight-monthold child, took his estranged wife to court after she decamped last year from their Blairgowrie, Randburg home to return to her parents in Soweto.
He told the Johannesburg High Court that their relationship had soured when he showed more interest in his daughter than his wife.
“I would feed (our child) and change her nappies. She would fall asleep in my arms. (The child) and I had a close and loving bond… eventually the relationship between myself and the respondent deteriorated to the point where the respondent left the matrimonial home, taking (the child) with her.”
The actor told the court he had initially had access to his child, but his wife had denied him access when the domestic worker went on leave last month.
Their agreement had been
Custody battle senseless when two still married
that the actor would fetch the child and the nanny in the mornings while his wife was at work and return them in the afternoon. This changed when the nanny went on leave and the actor hired a temporary replacement without his wife’s approval.
The woman’s lawyers maintained that the actor was never denied access to the child.
Acting Judge Naren Pandya dismissed the case, saying it made no sense for the couple to start a custody battle while they were still married.
“This is not an urgent matter at all. This application is dismissed. You have approached the wrong court. What I suggest is that the two attorneys put their heads together and come up with a workable solution,” said Judge Pandya.
He then focused on the man’s physique, telling him that he looked bigger than the last time he saw him.
“It seems SA is a land of milk and honey,” he commented.
The bespectacled man laughed the judge’s comments off, saying ”problems” had affected his girth.