When Christina Ricci moved to end her marriage in 2020, custody of her son quickly became the central and most painful fight.
In court filings at the time, Ricci alleged she was leaving a relationship marked by “severe physical and emotional abuse,” and she later secured a domestic violence restraining order against her then-husband, James Heerdegen.
Now, four years after the divorce was finalized, the dispute has flared again, with Heerdegen reopening the bitter custody battle earlier this month.
Heerdegen, a producer and camera operator, has requested an emergency custody hearing, claiming their 11-year-old son, Freddie, told him Ricci had been drinking during a June 16 flight to Canada.
Ricci, 46, has previously spoken openly about her difficult years as a young star, describing a hard-partying period involving drugs and alcohol before she sought therapy and embraced sobriety at 21.
People close to the actress say she is determined not to let her past be weaponized in the custody dispute, condemning Heerdegen’s latest move as what they view as a “calculated” attack on her as a mother.
Christina Ricci attending the Annual Academy Museum Gala in 2025
Ricci with her ex-husband James Heerdegen in 2013. Heerdegen has recently sought an emergency custody hearing
‘Christina believes the claims being made by her ex are not only unfair but deeply offensive,’ one source told the Daily Mail. ‘In her view, he’s attempting to use her past struggles with substance abuse – issues she has openly acknowledged and spoken about publicly – as a way to gain leverage with custody.’
To Ricci, Heerdegen’s gambit was not a genuine concern, rather ‘a calculated move,’ with the actress left ‘frustrated that personal challenges she has worked hard to overcome are now being brought back into the spotlight.’
‘Christina wants as little interaction with James as possible at this stage of her life,’ the insider said. ‘She is tired of being pulled into disputes and having to respond to what she considers assumptions and accusations about her character and parenting.’
Ricci first met Heerdegen in 2011 when they were working on the short-lived television series Pan Am. She was one of the stars and he was a dolly grip operator.
Rumors of an engagement started rumbling in 2012, with the actress confirming the news in February 2013. Eight months later, they wed in New York City. They welcomed their son the following year.
In June 2020, Ricci was granted a protective order against Heerdegen after officers responded to a domestic battery radio call at their home in Woodland Hills, California. Heerdegen was not arrested. On July 2, Ricci filed for divorce.
Soon followed a firestorm of mutual domestic violence allegations. Heerdegen was subsequently denied his request for a restraining order against Ricci, whom he accused of flying into drunken rages in front of him and Freddie.
In court documents obtained by the Daily Mail at the time, he included pictures purportedly showing her ‘in a state of severe intoxication wherein she was “blacked out” and passed around by numerous third parties who seem to find humor in the situation.’
Ricci and her son, Freddie, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2025
Ricci and Heerdegen at the 27th annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party in 2019
Heerdegen also claimed that when Freddie was a baby, he would have to check the breast milk bottles for alcohol and dispose of the ‘contaminated’ ones.
At the time, Ricci’s attorney, Samantha Spector, said the filing was ‘nothing more than a transparently abusive attempt to silence my client.’
‘It will not work,’ Spector said. ‘Christina will not be intimidated by Mr Heerdegen and his barrage of misleading claims – and she remains determined to protect her family.’
In the wreckage of their marriage, they waged a legal battle over little Freddie that led to Ricci being awarded full custody while Heerdegen retained visitation rights.
They ultimately arrived at a split custody arrangement in which Ricci retained primary physical custody as well as control of medical and educational decisions.
In the realm of their assets, Ricci was able to keep her home in Los Angeles as well as all of the residuals and royalties from her acting career.
Heerdegen was awarded a car and a one-time payment of $189,687, and the former couple split the proceeds from the sale of a property in New York.
Fifteen months after she filed, Ricci announced that she had married her second husband, hairstylist Mark Hampton, with whom she shares four-year-old daughter Cleopatra.
‘As far as Christina’s concerned, she has moved forward and is focused on her current family and her future,’ our insider said. ‘Because of that, she has no intention of backing down.’
Instead, Ricci ‘plans to vigorously challenge these allegations, and any other claims James may raise’ as she believes ‘they are part of a larger effort to create doubt where she feels none exists.’
Ricci and Heerdegen at a party in 2019. They met while working on the short-lived television series Pan Am
Ricci and her current husband, Mark Hampton, in 2025
‘She is prepared to fight the accusations head-on and is determined not to let her past be used against her in a way she feels is misleading or opportunistic,’ they added.
Heerdegen’s recent request for the emergency custody hearing was ultimately denied, as was his demand that his ex-wife undergo testing for alcohol, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail.
Meanwhile, the judge acquiesced to Ricci’s request that Freddie’s texts to his father be sealed, on the grounds that the messages going public could cause her son to be bullied at school, which would be injurious to his ‘mental health.’
Heerdegen had petitioned the court claiming Freddie texted him to say Ricci had ‘consumed alcohol’ while they flew to Canada together.
Freddie supposedly ‘used certain words to describe the manner by which Ms Ricci consumed the alcohol and then described Ms Ricci’s behavior thereafter.’
However, Freddie’s counsel filed court documents claiming they talked to the youngster, who allegedly claimed he ‘overreacted’ in his texts to his father.
It was further claimed Freddie’s ‘description of Ms Ricci’s alcohol consumption and behavior thereafter’ to his counsel was ‘not as he had described it to his father,’ and that the child ‘had no fear’ of remaining in his mother’s primary physical custody.
Ricci found fame at age ten, when she starred alongside Cher and Winona Ryder in Mermaids in 1990. A slew of film and TV credits followed, with Ricci cementing herself as one of Hollywood’s biggest child stars.
Ricci with Freddie, Hampton and their four-year-old daughter, Cleopatra, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2025
But with fame came an unravelling of control over her life, with Ricci falling into the trap of indulging in drugs and alcohol to escape the pressures of the spotlight.
Ricci has been frank about her struggles with addiction, telling Demi Lovato in 2024: ‘I don’t remember feeling like there was any other way to be happy.’
The actress, whose early films included Casper and The Addams Family, confessed to sneaking alcohol onto film sets in soda cans and signaling to her assistant that she wanted a drink by requesting ‘a warming Diet Coke.’
Last year, she described her younger herself as ‘a bit of a party animal’ between the ages of 16 and 21, telling Andy Cohen that she ‘went through a period of time when I was like a feral creature,’ who owes it to her ‘wonderful publicist’ for keeping her exploits ‘out of a lot of tabloids.’
‘What she’s being accused of is seriously hard to believe,’ said a separate insider who lavished praise on the actress.
‘She’s so nice, always friendly to everyone on set and great with kids,’ they added. ‘She makes them all feel so special when she’s around. She’s a great mom.’
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Ricci for comment.
