Christina Ricci Files for Divorce From James Heerdegen Following Restraining Order

Actress Christina Ricci has reportedly filed for divorce from her husband, producer James Heerdegen, after almost seven years of marriage. Ricci was previously granted an emergency protective order after an altercation between the former couple on June 15, a week before she filed for divorce. Ricci and Heerdegen are parents to 5-year-old son Freddie.

Ricci filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court Thursday morning, reports TMZ. The Lizzie Borden Chronicles star listed irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split. She is asking for sole legal and physical custody of their son. There is also no prenup and Ricci was the main money earner in the couple. According to PEOPLE, Ricci was seen without her wedding ring later Thursday.

Last week, Los Angeles police were called to the couple’s home, responding to a domestic battery call at around 9:20 a.m. No one was arrested. Heerdegen reportedly spit on Ricci during the incident. He was ordered to stay away from Ricci.

Ricci and Heerdegen met in 2011 while she was working on her short-lived ABC drama Pan Am. The two got engaged the following year and married in 2013. On June 21, Ricci shared a Father’s Day tribute to Heerdegen, showing off cards Freddie made. “We [heart] you, Daddy!” Ricci wrote in the caption. Ricci has not commented publicly on her divorce.

In a 2017 interview with Net-A-Porter, Ricci said marriage “shows you your flaws in how you deal with things and having a child forces you to grow up at the speed of light” and becoming a parent made her a “completely different person.” She later said that gaining fame as a child star meant she held on to her “immaturity” for a long time. “It was the thing that made me special,” she recalled. “Then at a certain point, like 35, it’s not so special to be immature.”

As Ricci grew out of the child roles, the Addams Family star took control of her career herself. “I was actively looking for opportunities for myself,” Ricci told Net-A-Porter. “Since I was a child I’d been doing what other people told me to, and I decided, that’s not for me anymore. I’m going to shape my own experiences.”

Ricci, who was last seen on television in Amazon’s Z: The Beginning of Everything, recently signed on to star in a new indie thriller called Can’t Stop The Dawn. In the film, she will play a terminally ill single mother who is recruited by a mysterious agent (Tom Hopper) to kill a human trafficking ring leader (David Dastmalchain) so her son can have a better future. Producers hope to start filming this fall in New Orleans, reports Variety.