Joshua Jackson Files Emergency Custody Order Against Jodi Turner-Smith
The custody battle between Joshua Jackson and Jodie Turner-Smith continues.
The Dawson's Creek star, 46, filed a motion requesting an emergency custody order modification on May 30, alleging that Jodie, 38, enrolled their 5-year-old daughter Juno in a new school for kindergarten this fall without his permission and outside of the agreed-upon 45 minute commute from his house, according to documents obtained by E! News.
"Respondent respectfully requests orders ensuring that the minor child continues attending her present school for the next academic year 2025-2026,” the documents read, “and for the parents' joint consent to be required for any subsequent school change."
In his filing, the Doctor Odyssey actor alleged Jodie hadn’t conferred with him before enrolling Juno in a new school, violating a prior agreement stating she could choose Juno’s school if they could not agree to one.
He further detailed his and his ex-wife’s differing beliefs when it comes to their daughter’s education, citing a text from Jodie in which she said Juno's academic experience doesn't “require a fixed location" and expressed she could use tutors and remote learning.
Joshua shared a concern that the Queen & Slim actress, who he said films a TV show in London for several months out of the year, "is attempting to create a scenario where Juno travels with her rather than attending a traditional school."
Citing his own experience with on-set tutors as a child actor, Joshua wrote, “Even in the best case it cannot begin to provide a child with the same nurturing and enrichment, peer relationships and social skills that a classroom and school community environment provides.”
Noting that Juno is “flourishing” at her current school, the Fringe alum detailed the changes the 5-year-old has endured over the last few years, including the loss of Joshua’s home in the Los Angeles fires earlier this year. As he put it, “adding an unnecessary school change cannot be in her interests.”
E! News has reached out to attorneys for Jodie and Joshua and has not heard back.
Joshua’s filing comes just a few weeks after the duo finalized their divorce, agreeing to maintain “the existing temporary joint legal and physical custody orders, awarding joint legal and physical custody to the parties with equal timeshares," according to previous documents obtained by E! News. The former couple is currently set to return to mediation later this month.
Joshua and Jodie were first linked in 2018 and privately wed in 2019 before welcoming Juno in 2020. Since their split in 2023, Joshua has emphasized that his daughter is his priority.
"It's my job," he said during an April episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson's Dinner's on Me podcast, "shared with my ex-wife, to do everything that we can to nurture you, cultivate you and give you all the tools that you need in life."
He continued, "If I ever did anything to estrange my daughter from myself, I would be in duress. I actually can't conceive of it because I don't even wanna think of the pain that that would be."
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