Reality television star Kathryn Calhoun Dennis and her ex-boyfriend, disgraced politician Thomas Ravenel, were on the docket in a Charleston County, South Carolina courtroom on Tuesday morning.
Dennis – the star of Bravo TV’s Southern Charm – appeared alongside her attorney, Alexander Blair Cash, while Ravenel was represented by his lawyer, Kelley Andrews-Edwards.
At issue? Whether to keep the former couple’s contentious custody case sealed from public view. Judge Michèle Patrão Forsythe ruled that the file should be public, a view Ravenel’s attorney told us her client supported.
Obviously, our view on the sealing of family court files is well-known.
Forsythe also denied a motion from Dennis’ attorney to exclude certain documents from evidence.
Dennis and Ravenel – a former Southern Charm cast member – currently share custody of five-year-old Kensington Calhoun Ravenel and three-year-old St. Julien Rembert Ravenel.
Dennis lost custody of the children back in 2016, but after a successful stint in rehab she has battled back and embraced her role as a mother. After reclaiming her custody rights, she sued last fall for full custody of the children after Ravenel was arrested on a sexual assault charge involving the couple’s former nanny, Dawn Ledwell.
Late last month, Dennis’ journey was featured in People.
“I made mistakes and wanted to be held accountable,” she told the magazine.
She also referred to her children as “angels” who helped her get her life back on track.
[su_dominion_video_scb]According to our sources, the People article enraged Ravenel – who is in the midst of a flurry of legal activity believed to constitute pushback related to his pending criminal charge.
(For the latest on all that, click here).
Meanwhile, Ravenel’s plea negotiations related to the criminal charge remain in limbo months after he was supposed to have decided whether to take a deal from prosecutors or proceed to trial.
Ravenel, 56, was elected treasurer of South Carolina in 2006. Months after taking office, however, he was forced to step down after being arrested on federal drug charges. He eventually pleaded guilty in connection with that case and served ten months in a federal prison.
Ravenel ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2004 as a Republican – finishing third in a GOP primary election. In 2014 he ran as a petition candidate for the U.S. Senate, finishing a distant third place in that year’s general election.
(Click to view)
(Via: Bravo TV)
Prior to his 2007 arrest, Ravenel (above) was viewed as one of the rising stars of the South Carolina Republican party.
Now? He is a cautionary tale …
In addition to his arrest in connection with the alleged assault of Ledwell, Ravenel was accused of settling out of court with another alleged assault victim in July of 2016. Those reports were advanced by the daughter of the victim, Florida-based model and real estate agent Ashley Perkins – however Perkins has ironically emerged as a supporter of Ravenel in his case against Ledwell.
Ravenel has issued a blanket denial in the past regarding any allegations of assault involving female victims.
“I’ve never assaulted a woman in my life,” he told us last April.
As for Dennis, the 26-year-old redheaded diva has seen her celebrity surpass that of her former boyfriend – especially now that Ravenel has been unceremoniously disinvited from further participation in Southern Charm.
-FITSNews
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