I know Jesse is breathing a sigh of relief.
That child support was blowing through all his savings. At least for now, it is manageable. His ex-wife Aryn Drake-Lee said she needed the $40k to keep up her lifestyle, but Jesse argued he isn’t making big-time money anymore after leaving Grey’s Anatomy.
The judge at the moment agrees with Jesse.
Jesse Williams will be paying his ex-wife,Aryn Drake-Lee, a reduced amount for child support.
According to court documents filed on Thursday and obtained by PEOPLE, Williams’ monthly child support payments have been “temporarily modified” to $6,413.
Prior to the filing, the 40-year-old actor — who shares daughter Sadie, 8, and son Maceo, 6, with Drake-Lee — was paying his ex-wife $40,000 in child support each month.
The modification was made after Williams reported “a significant change of income” in documents filed on Dec. 20, 2021, just six months following his May 2021 departure from Grey’s Anatomy. Williams left the hit ABC medical drama after 12 seasons as Dr. Jackson Avery.
Currently, the actor is starring in the Broadway production of Take Me Out, which reportedly pays him $1,668 per week, according to TMZ.
By October 2020, Williams and Drake-Lee had finalized their divorce, with documents obtained by PEOPLE at the time showing that the exes would share joint legal and physical custody of their two children. Williams was also ordered to pay his ex-wife $40,000 in child support every month, as well as over $100,000 in two spousal support payments.
Then, in April 2021, the former couple was ordered by a judge to attend a “high conflict parents” program as they navigate their co-parenting relationship.
Williams has dated a few high-profile ladies since his divorce, but nothing has stuck, maybe because all his money was going to his ex-wife. His ex-wife was eating at Nubu, and Jesse was eating In-n-Out.
Flip the pages behind their wild divorce and why the battle isn’t over yet.