Jeff Lewis is fighting mad after learning the surrogate he hired to carry his daughter Monroe is suing Bravo. Alexandra Trent, who has appeared on Flipping Out several times, filed a lawsuit against Bravo for filming segments of her giving birth – including some snarky comments Jeff made about her vagina – without her permission. Alexandra is seeking unspecified damages for unlawful recording, fraud, and invasion of privacy.
Although viewers couldn’t see any of the actual birth process, the camera crew was stationed behind a curtain recording the entire process, which according to Alexandra, was a violation. She also cites that she was humiliated by Jeff’s inappropriate remarks.
Jeff acknowledges that his comments about Alexandra’s vagina, among others, were “a poor attempt at humor” but maintains that he and Gage Edward are “devastated” by the lawsuit because of the negative connotation it gives their daughter’s birth, and also because they considered Alexandra a friend.
“This is like a blow to the head. We are completely blindsided by this. I thought we had a nice relationship, a friendship,” Jeff responded in a statement. “We treated her like an extended member of the family. So you can imagine this is pretty stunning.”
Jeff also accuses Alexandra of using him, Gage, and the show for financial gain and complains that her suit, “smells to me like a financial shakedown.”
“We couldn’t be more grateful to this woman for birthing our child. We are indebted to her… we are so completely grateful to her, because without her, we wouldn’t have Monroe,” continued Jeff, “but on the other hand, these are fabricated claims and are completely bogus and without merit.”
Jeff tells People that after the episode aired he learned Alexandra was upset about his comments, which he agrees are “off-color,” so to make things right he sent an apology letter and flowers. “I thought it was all good.”
In the ensuing months they kept Alexandra updated about Monroe with gifts, photos, and communication. “I’m telling you, this was an amazing experience!” Jeff insists. “We were friends. She was a part of our family. We bought her a beautiful push gift. That’s what’s so insane to me. I thought this was over.”
In response to Alexandra’s claims that she didn’t expect to be part of Flipping Out, Jeff is aghast: “That, to me, is insanity, because we were upfront and honest from the beginning, to the point where her appearance release was a part of the surrogacy agreement because the whole idea was to document this journey. And not only did she sign an appearance release as part of our surrogacy contract, I believe she signed it as a separate appearance release with the production company. And she signed a nondisclosure agreement, which she now violated.”
Jeff is also concerned about the potential impact this will have on Monroe, now 2. “What worries me now and what is upsetting is that our daughter, at any point in time, for the rest of her life, she has this horrible cloud,” he expressed on his Jeff Lewis Live show. Jeff says that personal information, deemed private per their surrogacy contract, could be made public at the hands of the lawsuit – and instead of Monroe hearing her birth story from her two parents, she’d learn from Google.
Gage echos these concerns, “I don’t know what that does to her psyche later. I was just hoping that was something we as two parents would be able to handle on our own terms. And tell her what we want, not a side that’s crafted by a litigator.”
Um… except Jeff and Gage also put the story on Flipping Out so it’s not exactly private…
“It’s the biggest form of betrayal,” adds an emotional Jeff. “It’s sad and it’s upsetting. I’m really trying to focus on the positive things. I’m trying to keep it together.” Additionally Jeff snipes that Alexandra now owes him an apology.
TELL US – DID ALEXANDRA BETRAY JEFF & GAGE, OR DOES HER SUIT HAVE SOME MERIT?
[Photo Credit: Instagram]
