Posted on 05/07/2007 6:46:46 PM PDT by southern rock
LOS ANGELES - A judge on Monday suspended David Hasselhoff's visitation rights with his two teenage daughters after last week's surfacing of a videotape showing the recovering alcoholic apparently intoxicated in his Las Vegas home.
"This videotape changes the landscape, it just does," Superior Court Judge Mark Juhas said.
The judge set a May 21 hearing to determine if the tape is authentic and who was responsible for its release. His visitation order will remain in effect until then.
Hasselhoff, 54, did not attend the hearing, but his former wife Pamela Bach was there.
Portions of the video were aired last week on syndicated entertainment shows. The video shows Hasselhoff, wearing only blue jeans, lying on a floor and clumsily eating a hamburger while one of his daughters videotapes him and reproves him about his drinking.
Hasselhoff said in a statement last week that he's a recovering alcoholic and the tape was made to show him what he can be like under the influence of alcohol.
"I have learned from it and I am back on my game," he said then.
A message left Monday for Hasselhoff's attorney, Melvin Goldsman, was not immediately returned.
Attorney Debra Opri, who represents Bach, said her client was upset about the release of the tape and stunned by her former husband's behavior in front of their daughter.
"She's devastated the videotape was put out in the press," Opri said. "When a mother hears this from her daughter, what does she think? `I haven't protected my daughters.'"
The syndicated entertainment shows said the tape was made about three months ago by Hasselhoff's 16-year-old daughter, Taylor-Ann, in his home in Las Vegas, where the former "Baywatch" star had been appearing in a stage version of "The Producers."
On the tape, a girl's voice is heard saying: "Dad, you need to promise me you're not gonna get alcohol tonight, OK?"
"If you get alcohol tonight, you're fired from your show tomorrow," the girl continues. "And a doctor's coming over here in the morning to check your alcohol level and if there's any alcohol in your system you're gonna be fired from the show. Tomorrow. You hear me? No alcohol."
"OK," Hasselhoff replies in a slurred voice.
Hasselhoff filed for divorce from Bach last year after 16 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences. Bach, 43, filed her own divorce papers, also citing irreconcilable differences.
In addition to Taylor-Ann, they have a 14-year-old daughter. The couple share joint custody of the girls, Opri said.
What the hell?!?! This is INSANE IMO. So a man can't eat a burger while tipsy without losing his parental rights? So the guy is a bad father or some kind of danger to his kids because he was a little sloppy?
Oh and by the way, if the couple share joint custody of the girls, how can he lose visitation? He doesn't have visitation to begin with, he has JOINT custody which means he is an EQUAL parent. Why is having a load on punisable by a court anyway? What else are they going to take children away from their parents for?
This is really a scary decision.
I’m surprised this didn’t happen after the “Hooked on a Feeling” video.
So sad.
This may have been the wake-up call he needed.
Divorce Courts are a weapon to take power from men and to destroy families.
His visitation wasn’t suspended just for being sloppy and tipsy. It’s for dropping off the wagon in terms of his alcoholism. That’s a whole different ballgame. And if he has been known to do dangerous things when under the influence — and we have no idea what’s in the files — the judge has to make sure the guy gets back on track.
Alec Baldwin will be calling soon to commiserate.
You know what, on second thought: alcoholic parents don’t get their kids taken away by the state, right? So why should he be stripped of his joint custory for being an alcoholic?
I may have just changed my mind — unless, again, he has a really bad history with alcohol that we don’t know about.
It's supposed to be hush-hush, but, between me, you and the brick wall, that version by Hasselhoff is a tool used on a regular basis by Guantanamo Bay's interrogators..
shhhhhh!
He’ll get his kids back. I suspect we’ll hear him saying that the whole affair was painfull but a good thing in the long run because he’ll be straight. He really sounds like a pretty decent guy with a problem.
I was a drunk too and it’s a horrible thing to do to a family.
I spent 10 years in battle with my alcoholic ex to insure when she was, what I would call, ‘abusive’ the young kids were with me. I went to court three times, lost the first round and won the next two. They’re older now and can handle her but it took a toll on them. No kid deserves to be stranded with a drunk.
Thats what I'm thinking. Smoking, drinking, gun ownership etc.. are all going to be used as weapons by the courts to erode parental rights.
“Smoking, drinking, gun ownership etc.. are all going to be used as weapons by the courts to erode parental rights.”
Not only that, there’s those claims of that talking car to be dealt with.
Yea, especially that bullshit about second hand smoke being dangerous. What a fraud.
The video is really corny but I did not know he could he is good it sad he let himself become this way he really needs prayers not finger pointing!
I’d never spill the beans.
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