Jon Cryer’s ex-wife Sarah Trigger won a small victory Monday in her efforts to keep $8,000 monthly child-support payments coming from the “Two and a Half Men” star.
A judge ordered Cryer – who is seeking to cease all such payments to Trigger — to turn over his 2009 tax returns by May 10. Her attorney, Vicki Greene, asked for a continuance of the custody case to get Cryer’s financial documents in order.
It’s just the part of the latest trouble to surround the CBS hit comedy, which last month shut down production so co-star Charlie Sheen could go into rehab.
Greene told TheWrap that “taking the support away will have the result of Sarah losing her home, which she got out of their marriage and therefore Jon will be putting the mother of his child out on the street — which will not be good for (their 10-year-old son together).”
Cryer’s lawyer Susan Wiesner sternly argued that the actor’s monthly payments to Trigger aren’t necessary, since he now has primary custody of the boy.
But the financial battle of the exes has become secondary to another drama in the case, regarding alleged death threats made against Cryer by Trigger.
In court documents released Friday, Cryer finally broke his silence about the threats, claiming, among other things, that Trigger’s legal team was responsible for leaking the story to the press.
In the documents, Cryer says his reps received a call last December from Trigger’s counsel, who warned that her ex-boyfriend, Eddie Sanchez, was making death threats against Cryer and David Dickey, her second husband.
Dickey then confronted Sanchez, who denied making any such statement. Instead, Sanchez said it was Trigger who wanted to see the two men dead, and asked if Sanchez would help carry out the deed, according to the court document.
(Sanchez, according to a voicemail released by Greene that he left for Trigger¹s mother, has since recanted that statement, saying the actress "didn¹t do anything.")
Upon learning of this, Cryer said, he told the head of security at Warner Brothers Studios about a possible threat against his life, and requested heightened security. The FBI and local law enforcement then contacted Cryer.
“Immediately after Mr. Cryer spoke with law enforcement officials,” the documents state, “a story appeared on TMZ.com that there was a threat.”
The document also states that the TMZ article was erroneous in reporting that the set of ‘Two and a Half Men’ was then closed. It also asserts that Cryer never spoke to anyone in the media on the topic, and suggests instead that Trigger’s side was responsible for the leaks.
“What is noteworthy, though, in the original article to appear in the media on this topic – minutes after Mr. Cryer spoke with authorities – is that while neither Mr. Cryer nor anyone on his behalf is quoted in the article, Vicki Greene … is."
The document goes on to state that Greene has "waged a war in the press" against Cryer, speaking to anyone and everyone who would listen about the actor.
Neither Cryer nor Trigger attended Monday’s hearing.
Cryer and Trigger, who appeared in “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey,” were married in 1999 and divorced in 2004. While Trigger does see the boy under supervision for a brief period every month, Cryer, who married entertainment journalist Lisa Joyner in 2007 and adopted a baby girl with her in 2009, has temporarily been given primary custody of his son.
Trigger was arrested last May suspicion of child neglect after police were called by Dickey — the actress’s then-husband – to their Hermosa Beach home and found rope-like marks on the neck of that couple’s two-year-son.
"Two and a Half Men" went through more drama last month when co-star Sheen halted production on the show to check himself into rehab as a “preventative measure," according to a statement from his publicist.
Sheen, the highest paid actor on TV according to a 2008 TV Guide survey, faces a court appearance of his own later this month in Aspen steaming from a Christmas Day domestic violence incident between the actor and his wife Brooke Mueller.
The actor’s stint in rehab could, if it stretches further than a few weeks, shut down the Monday night show, which averages a top rated 15 million viewers per episode.
