PATRICIA DUFF did not see this one coming. Her teen daughter by billionaire Ron Perelman shot her in the heart this week – she sought a court order of protection against her own mother!
But to hear Patricia tell it, the child, an impressionable 13, got caught in a power struggle between her ever-indulgent sugar daddy, the Revlon hot shot whose house is party central on the weekends – and a mom who wants her little girl, Caleigh, to succeed in school.
Guess who won.
Patricia thought she was going to court Monday to solve a visitation “scheduling issue” with her ex-hubby, whose divorce and child-custody war with Patricia turned into a blood battle. But instead, she was hit with claims that Caleigh was “fearful” of her.
“I was stunned!” said Patricia.
“Anyone with a passing understanding of our relationship knows it’s a beautiful, beautiful relationship,” Patricia said of her bond with her daughter.
“She’s a great, great girl – but she’s 13.
“He [Perelman] indulged her a lot. I picked up on the pattern. Taking her to have her hair styled, colored or cut.
“He was having a lot of girls [friends of Caleigh’s] sleeping over on Friday. Boys coming over for a screening [to watch a movie] or pool. Two or three girls coming over on a Saturday night for a slumber party.
“She was exhausted in school. She’d come to my house and sleep. She was starting to do poorly in school.
“I was the one who was much more anxious about it. I’m not the one doing the socializing.
“There was a difference how he was conducting home life and how I was. I was trying to get her a tutor for math for years.”
She said the flashpoint came right after Father’s Day. When she saw her daughter Tuesday night, Patricia told her, “We might take your computer away for some time you’re with me. You can’t be talking with your friends all the time.”
Guess what. “She met with the law guardian in the morning.”
It all seemed a “carefully crafted ploy on his part,” she said of her ex.
Was Caleigh scared of Patricia? Or was Perelman turning his daughter against her mom?
A spokeswoman for Perelman did not return a call for comment.
Brother.
I’ve been sitting between the warring Perelman-Duffs for years now. I’ve listened to Ron trash her as a nut. I’ve seen Patricia turn from a crazed lady into a warrior for divorce reform in New York state. It’s proof positive that money can screw up any life.
Now the girl who represents the spoils of battle is 13. I wonder how much of this can be chalked up to the age. Don’t all pubescent girls adore their dads?
Do all little girls know how to use the legal system against Mom? Too scary.
Patricia chalked up the differences cropping up between mother and child as normal. “It’s developmentally accepted.”
But Perelman and his legal team, rather than try to work things out, took a drastic step. “They went right to a nuclear option,” Patricia said.
She doesn’t even know the exact contents of Caleigh’s complaint. “We don’t know what we’re defending against.”
Can this family be saved?
Justice Rosalyn Richter denied the order of protection, saying she had to investigate the matter further. Patricia praised the judge as “very reasonable.”
But Patricia has not yet had an opportunity to sit down with her daughter.
“One more week, and she would have been in camp. Your mind can change 20 times when you’re that age,” she said.
For everyone’s sake, I hope things smooth out.