Steve Burton has accused his ex-wife Sherri Gustin of separating him from their 11-year-old daughter Brooklyn as their custody battle escalates.
According to court documents obtained by Page Six Friday, the “General Hospital” star claimed that Gustin was “blatantly alienating” and “systematically” undermining his relationship with his youngest son.
The actor also claimed that his current wife, Michelle Lundstrom, had “repeatedly refused” to pick up Brooklynn on his behalf, making it “impossible” for him to seek court-ordered custody, despite his ex-wife playing a “consistent parental role” in their child’s life.
“As a result, Shelly’s actions created unnecessary obstacles to my ability to exercise my custody time and maintain regular and meaningful contact with Brooklyn. Instead of supporting my relationship with my daughter, Shelly routinely makes exercising my custody time more difficult than necessary,” his complaint states.
Burton also accused Gustin of refusing to “acknowledge Michelle’s role as his wife or Michelle’s daughters as Brooklyn’s sisters-in-law,” even though he said he had a “close relationship” with Brooklyn.
In the documents, Barton further claimed that Gustin refused to cooperate in having Brooklyn visit him at his home in Tennessee after he moved from California.
He claimed that Gustin was “manipulating” Brooklyn into giving up custody and “deliberately manipulating Brooklyn into wanting to spend Christmas with him.”
However, in a statement obtained by People magazine, Gustin denied the “alienation” claim and explained that she had a parenting schedule with her ex-husband in a previous lawsuit.
She also claimed that while she was happy for Brooklyn to be able to spend time with her father, the 11-year-old “spends half her life traveling” and didn’t want her to be away from home for more than three weeks.
The fitness instructor insisted that Burton could visit her daughter in California if he wanted to see her beyond the allotted time.
Page Six reported last month that the “Young and the Restless” star accused Gustin of “manipulation” during an argument over custody proceedings.
According to documents obtained by TMZ, Burton submitted texts from Gustin in March in which they allegedly argued over a visit to Brooklyn.
“This is a manipulation. You signed the order,” Barton wrote in one of the emails to Gustin on March 14, during which they allegedly got into an argument over their preteen’s participation in California’s junior lifeguard program.
“So the response should have been, ‘Hey, Brooke, I’m sure your dad takes you out a lot over the summer…’ but I know your priority is not wanting her to spend time with us. Activities don’t take precedence over family time.”
The two continued to communicate that they were not willing to work together.
The former couple married in 1999 and together with Brooklyn, they have a daughter, Makenna, 22, and a son, Jack, 20.
As Page Six previously reported, Burton announced in 2022 that he was divorcing his then-pregnant wife, Gustin, after learning she was carrying a child that was not his.
“I wanted to make something clear. Shelly and I are separated,” he wrote on his Instagram Story at the time. “She recently announced that she is pregnant with her fourth child. That child is not mine.”
“We are still co-parenting our three beautiful children. We would appreciate your respecting our privacy at this time. Steve, we are so happy for you.”
The two finalized their divorce in December 2023. Two months later, Gustin gave birth to her fourth child.
A year later, she welcomed her fifth child. Gustin has two children with her husband, Jason Amador.
As for Burton, he and Lundstrom married last May in an intimate Orthodox ceremony in Laguna Beach, California.
