Jesse Williams Agrees to Settle Child Custody Dispute With Ex-Wife Aryn Drake-Lee

A child custody dispute has been resolved between actor Jesse Williams and his ex-wife Aryn Drake-Lee.

According to People, the formerly married couple has agreed to continue to share legal custody of both of their children, Sadie, 8, and Maceo, 6. After appearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the judge didn’t honor the request by Williams to adjust his custodial schedule to a 2-2-5-5 plan.

Under this arrangement, the children would spend two days with one parent, the next two with the other, then five straight days with the first parent, and then five days with the second one. The request was due to Williams’ upcoming schedule as he will be performing in the Broadway production of Take Me Out, which will open on April 4.

“Given [Williams] profession as an actor, it does not seem that this schedule is necessarily going to become more predictable in the future,” according to court documents obtained by People.

“Neither does it seem to be in the best interest of the children for their time with their father to be cut back dramatically as a result of his varying schedule so as to only visit him during predictable timeslots. This situation results in an understandably frustrating experience for both sides.”

The judge has also recommended that Williams and Drake-Lee pursue co-parenting counseling, as “both seek a great deal of fine-tuning in their custody and visitation orders, much of which a court is not as well equipped to handle.” The former couple can return to court if the counseling doesn’t work out.

Earlier this year, as reported by Radar Online, the co-parenting agreement between the two wasn’t working, according to Drake-Lee. She stated in court papers that Williams had failed to comply with the mutual arrangement worked out between the two.

Drake-Lee asked to alter the joint custody agreement to give her primary control of the two children. She requested that the court change the custody agreement so Williams could have visitation on the first and third weekends of each month and the fifth weekend in months that have five weeks.

The actor filed for divorce in 2017 after being married for five years and being together for 13 years. According to TMZ, the former couple settled in 2020. Williams agreed to pay her $50,629 a month in child support until October 2019, and after that, the amount went down to $40,000 a month.