It has emerged that actor Tyrese Gibson was on the verge of going to jail after he was arrested for contempt of court for failing to pay child support for his five-year-old daughter, Soraya Lee.
He was reportedly taken to an Atlanta courtroom early this week but managed to find the money to make the payment.
Sources close to the case said he was supposed to pay $73,000. This figure is said to include a $7,500 fee for his ex-wife Samantha Gibson’s attorney.
The Fast & Furious actor is said to have cited strikes in Hollywood for his inability to pay his ex-wife’s monthly child support on time.
A witness at the proceedings provided an update about the case on X (Twitter) and wrote: “Tyrese has miraculously found the money he owes to his ex-wife and is arranging for it to be paid right now. He will likely be home for dinner.”
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“I was inside the courtroom as presiding the judge ordered the singer to be held in willful contempt of court,” the witness added before indicating later that Tyrese had made the payment.
Tyrese was reportedly released by 5 pm PT on Monday, with his legal team indicating that they would appeal the ruling. The actor had previously spoken about the perceived “injustice” he felt he was experiencing in the divorce case.
Persons close to the couple say Gibson and his ex-wife have not been on the same page for years regarding the child support payments, and Monday’s incident was not the first time Tryse had defaulted on the payment.
The 45-year-old had chastised his ex-wife for asking for what he feels is an excessive amount of child support money and made some social media posts to that effect. Last month, he blamed his ex-wife for making him “let God down” by filing for divorce.
During a conversation about his upcoming film 1992 and album Beautiful Pain, he reflected on the obstacles that could have marred his career, such as his divorces from Samantha Lee and Norma Mitchell.
He said it was challenging dealing with the false news about him about the divorce cases, stressing that “a lie will always be more popular than the truth.”
