It’s been more than a year since Sherri Shepherd was entangled in a nasty custody battle with her ex-husband Lamar Sally — but now, the former “View” co-host says she’s happy the drama is behind her. “It feels good that I’m through that and done and able to just smile and just breathe,” Shepherd recently told People.
As previously reported, on Tuesday, March 1, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania denied Shepherd’s request to review the April 2015 ruling that mandated her name be placed on the child’s birth certificate, which would require her to pay expenses incurred by the “embryo carrier.” Though the ruling wasn’t what she hoped for, the 49-year-old is just happy it’s over. “Being able to have people in this business who were there for me, I don’t know if I could have made it without them,” she said of the ordeal.
“Me going through all my public stuff and painful stuff that nobody got to see on my Twitter rants or my Instagram posts, were when Niecy Nash was there holding me as I cried or when Kym Whitley was there for me,” she continued.
In 2011, Shepherd and Sally got hitched. Soon after, the pair decided to expand their family, seeking the help of a surrogate, using Sally’s sperm and an egg donor. In April 2014, the estranged couple filed for separation. However, at that point, the surrogate was already pregnant, throwing the couple into a heated legal battle over who would financially support the unborn babe. On July 28, 2014, the child was born. According to reports, the child is in Sally’s care.
Now, with both her divorce and surrogate battle behind her, Shepherd is looking to the future. On Oct. 23, Shepherd is poised to play in TV One’s “Jean of the Joneses.” She’s also got a new comedy project with John Lithgow set to premiere on NBC in 2017. “I moved back out to L.A. and said goodbye to my season in New York and at “The View” and [got] back to what I love doing,” says Shepherd. “I’m really at peace.”
