Tyrese Gibson arrested at court hearing for failure to pay child support

Tyrese Gibson is in custody in Atlanta after a judge in a contentious child support hearing ordered him to pay his former partner more than $73,000 to avoid prison, court records show.

The actor appeared in Fulton County Superior Court for the latest hearing in his ongoing dispute with ex-wife Samantha Lee, with whom he has a daughter, Soraya. Gibson was ordered to pay $10,690 a month in child support in April 2023, but Judge Kevin Farmer found him in contempt of court for his failure to pay; Gibson was brought into court in handcuffs and then led away by a bailiff. TMZ was the first to report the news.

“Mr. Gibson has chosen not to comply with the court's child support order and was charged yesterday with willful contempt of court for the third time since the divorce proceedings were finalized,” Lee's attorney Adam Gleklen wrote in an email to The Hollywood Reporter“Mr. Gibson has only paid appropriate child support three times in the 25 months since the divorce proceedings.”

Gleklen added that despite the judge's decision, Lee instructed him to ask the court not to incarcerate Gibson. She “has always wanted effective co-parenting with Tyrese for the benefit of her daughter” and wanted to end the legal battle, which has now lasted four years, so that both can move on with their lives in the best interests of their daughter.

Farmer has the Fast & Furious Actor the opportunity to avoid jail time if he pays $73,525.73 within 48 hours, according to the arrest warrant he received The Hollywood Reporterr. This includes $7,500 in legal fees that Lee paid. According to TMZGibson had been paying a partial monthly amount of $2,200 in child support – nearly 25 percent of the amount the court ordered in 2022 during another contentious hearing.

TMZ reports that Gibson is making preparations to pay the $73,525.73 and leave the Atlanta prison.

On Sunday, Gibson told his Instagram followers in a post that his arrest could be imminent. In it, he also attacked Farmer and complained about the fairness of family courts towards fathers.

“Samantha’s attorney Adam Gleklen and William Alexander, who are best friends with Judge Kevin M. Farmer [ collusion ],” Gibson wrote in the now-deleted post.

“We are appealing [sic] ALL OF HIS JUDGMENTS AND WE HAVE ALREADY TRIED TWICE TO REMOVE THIS JUDGE,” he added of Farmer on Sunday. “The second time we tried to remove him from office. [ He actually denied his own request to be thrown off the bench] …imagine that???”

He added: “It's pretty clear they hate me but I have to remind them of anything and everything about my life and success. I've been working my ass off since I was 14 to get here. #FamilyCourt is THE WORST THING to FATHERS.”

Gibson and Lee married in 2017. She filed for divorce in 2020 and the two later released a joint statement calling the separation “a painful and significant development in our lives.”

A 2022 hearing in which Farmer ordered Gibson to pay $10,690 a month in child support – which Gleklen said came about because the parties could not settle the divorce without going to court – became controversial when the actor snapped at one of Lee's lawyers after declaring that the Baby boy Star had earned over $2 million the previous year. When Gibson began to ask Lee's lawyer a question, Farmer snapped at him, threatened to find him in contempt of court, and then told him, “You don't ask questions! That's not how it works!!”

At that hearing, Farmer also told Gibson that monthly child support of $10,690 should have been paid since Lee filed for divorce in 2020, and ultimately ruled that he owed $169,000 in back payment.

In addition to his daughter with Lee, Gibson has a teenage daughter, Shayla, with his ex-wife Norma Mitchell.

Calls from The Hollywood Reporter to Fulton County District Court were not returned as of Monday afternoon.

September 10, 16:08 Updated with statements from Gleklen.