According to court documents, Real Housewives of Orange County star Slade Smiley is still a deadbeat as new details about his child support issues comes to light.
Despite owing over $138,000 in back child support payments, it seems Slade has still yet to find a job. To make matters worse, the child in question is Slade’s son Grayson Smiley, who suffers from a rare form of brain cancer. Grayson’s mother Michelle Arroyo is forced to deal with the piling medical bills as well as no financial support from Slade.
The court documents obtained by RadarOnline show that Slade stated his monthly income in 2010 was $416 a month, and in 2009, he had no income. And we have to ask, how can a man with a sick son go an entire year without working? Wowzers. Slade is still seeking to have his monthly child support payments to Michelle reduced from $3500.
“It appears he is currently living with his girlfriend,” the court papers stated. “The evidence shows that . . . in 2010 he earned $5,000 for participation in another television program.” Something tells us Slade is earning way more than just $5,000 to do the Real Housewives of OC. In fact, the OC Register reported last summer that Slade admitted in court that his Bravo payments were directed to Gretchen and re-directed to him to avoid mandatory deductions.
In the court papers, Slade also claims he is trying to find a job by attending numerous parties and social events with girlfriend Gretchen Rossi. Seriously folks. “(Smiley) testified regarding his various unsuccessful efforts to find work in the title insurance/real estate industry. He also testified regarding his various Facebook and Twitter entries showing his attendance at various public and social events. He essentially describes these activities as networking with the purpose of securing employment in the entertainment field.”
The judge has since ordered Slade “to expand his efforts beyond entertainment and title insurance/real estate, and to document his efforts by keeping a detailed log.” He is also required to contact at least five potential employers every two weeks.
And following the recent episode of the OC Housewives, in which Slade’s darling mother tried to convince him to try to get a real J-O-B, Gretchen is now defending her man via her recent Bravo blog. Below are excerpts from Gretchen’s blog this week in which she blames Slade’s depression about his son’s illness for his joblessness –
“When Slade’s son got sick, his focus was on keeping him alive and being with him. It went from working everyday to being in the hospital every day back then. This is something that Slade and I can truly relate to each other about. I did the same thing when Jeff got sick. I walked away from my thriving real estate career to be by Jeff’s side while he spent close to nine months in the hospital. When a family member gets sick, the only thing that seems to matter anymore is spending time with them and getting them well. Work certainly does not seem like a priority anymore. I honestly think Slade has just been so depressed about his son’s illness for a while now, and in some ways it has kept him from being everything he is capable of being. The medical bills seem endless, and it seems impossible to ever catch up with it all. When Slade realized that all his hard work of 18 years in the title business had been lost because of his time away with his son, I think his world crumbled financially, emotionally, and mentally, as you see him humbly address in this episode. It was a hard knock for him and a wake-up call.
The press and people stating that Slade is a deadbeat father is ridiculous. Just because a man can no longer pay $4,000 a month in support due to loss of a job and financial hardship does not make him a deadbeat father. Normally a man who is not present in a child’s life, doesn’t care, never sees them, neglects the child, or is abusive or demeaning to a child makes a deadbeat father. Let me be clear that financial inability to pay the same amount in child support due to external circumstances in no way makes a man a deadbeat father.”
Gretchen also goes on to blame the bad press as the reason Slade has yet to find a job. Yes, she did folks. “He submits resumes consistently to companies and has worked with head hunters, etc. Unfortunately the hard reality is that because of the false press that is out there, the second a employer googles his name an article stating that he is a deadbeat father is what they find,” wrote Gretchen. No word yet on when Gretchen will get tired of the constant embarrassment, stop thinking with what’s in between her legs, and start using her brain.
It was reported back in February that Slade’s drivers license was suspended on Jan. 8 due to the delinquent child support. And back in February of 2009, Slade was arrested for not paying his child support. He was released the same day after posting $10,000 bail.
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