Kelly Rutherford Biography

Kelly Rutherford (born November 6, 1968) is an American actress known for her roles of Stephanie "Sam" Whitmore on Generations, Megan Lewis on Melrose Place from 1996 to 1999 and as Lily van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl from 2007 to 2012.

Early life

Kelly Rutherford Deane was born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky in 1968. Her mother, Harriet (aka "Ann") Edwards, is a model and writer. She has a younger brother, Anthony, and two younger sisters, Courtney and Lindsey. She attended Corona del Mar High School.

Career

In addition to her work on Generations and Melrose Place, Rutherford starred in Homefront (1991"93) as Judy Owen; in The Great Defender as Frankie Collet (1995); in Kindred: The Embraced as Caitlin Byrne (1996); in Threat Matrix as Special Agent Frankie Ellroy Kilmer (2003); and had a recurring role in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. as femme fatale Dixie Cousins. She also starred as Christine Hamilton in the horror film Scream 3 (2000). She also played the role of Lily Humphrey on Gossip Girl.

Personal life

Rutherford married Carlos Tarajano, a Venezuelan banker, in June 2001. Tarajano was diagnosed with a heart condition soon afterwards. Rutherford filed for divorce in January 2002, after six months of marriage. The wedding was featured shortly thereafter in the February 2002 issue of InStyle magazine. Tarajano died in 2004.

Rutherford married her second husband, German businessman Daniel Giersch, in August 2006. She gave birth to their first child, son Hermés Gustaf Daniel Giersch, in October 2006. While pregnant with their second child, Rutherford filed for divorce from Giersch on December 30, 2008. Rutherford and Giersch subsequently became involved in a child custody dispute over their son and unborn child. Rutherford gave birth to their second child, daughter Helena, in June 2009. Giersch claimed he was not informed of the birth by Rutherford, and became aware of it only through media reports. In August 2009, Rutherford and Giersch reached a temporary settlement of joint legal and physical custody, in effect until April 2010. Rutherford also obtained a temporary restraining order against him the following month. Giersch's American visa was revoked in April 2012, after Rutherford's lawyer informed the State Department about issues pertaining to Giersch's businesses, which led the Department to conclude that they had sufficient evidence to deport him. It has been reported that the allegations involved fraud or an involvement in drugs and weapons dealing in South America, considered terrorism under the Victory Act. Giersch consequently became unable to enter the United States, and took up residence in France and Monaco. In May 2012, Rutherford and Giersch's children went to France to spend the summer with their father. Rutherford asked the court to grant her sole custody so that she could keep the children primarily in the United States following their visit to France, as the existing joint custody agreement required her to travel frequently to enable Giersch to spend time with the children. In August 2012, in a widely-reported decision, a California Superior Court judge ruled that the 50/50 custody arrangement should remain, and that because Giersch is unable to travel to the United States, the children should live in France with him and attend school there, with Rutherford travelling there to visit them. Though Rutherford opposed the decision and requested a stay of proceedings while she appealed, her request was denied and it was ruled that in two years, Giersch's eligibility to enter the United States and the consequent well-being of the children will be reassessed.

In June 2013, Rutherford filed for bankruptcy, claiming debts of approximately $2 million, primarily due to the $1.5 million she spent on legal fees relating to the divorce and custody dispute with Giersch.

Select filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1992	Breaking the Silence	Cheryl	TV movie
1994	Amberwaves	Lola Barnes	-
1994	Tis a Gift to Be Simple	Emily Hanover	-
1994	I Love Trouble	Kim	-
1996	No Greater Love	Edwina Winfield	TV movie
1996	Buried Secrets	Danielle Roff	TV movie
1997	Dilemma	Woman in bar	-
1997	Cyclops, Baby	Randy	-
1997	Six Months of Darkness, Six Months of Light	Annie	-
1998	The Perfect Getaway	Julia Robinson	TV movie
1998	The Disturbance at Dinner	Marian Pronkridge	-
2000	Scream 3	Christine Hamilton	-
2000	Sally Hemings: An American Scandal	Lady Maria Cosway	TV movie
2000	The Chaos Factor	Jodi	-
2001	Angels Don't Sleep Here	Kate Porter	-
2001	Acceptable Risk	Kim Welles	TV movie
2001	The Tag	Wendy	-
2002	Swimming Upstream	Sandra Bird	-
2002	Eastwick	Alexandra Medford	TV movie
2007	Tell Me No Lies	Laura	TV movie
2013	A Sister's Nightmare	Jane	TV movie

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991"1993	Homefront	Judy Owen	Series Regular; 22 episodes
1993-1994	The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.	Dixie Cousins	Series Regular
1996"1999	Melrose Place	Megan Lewis Mancini	Series regular; Season 5"7; 90 episodes
1996	Kindred: The Embraced	Caitlyn Byrne	Series regular
1999"2000	Get Real	Laura Martineau	4 episodes
2000"2001	The Fugitive	Helen Kimble	3 episodes
2002"2003	The District	Deputy Mayor Melinda Lockhart / Melinda Lockhart	6 episodes
2003"2004	Threat Matrix	Special Agent Frankie Ellroy-Kilmer	Series regular; 16 episodes
2005"2006	E-Ring	Samantha "Sonny" Liston	Series regular; 21 episodes
2007"2012	Gossip Girl	Lily van der Woodsen	Series regular; 121 episodes