“Gage and I, we bicker and we argue about stupid things … But when something like this happens, we are bonded,” Lewis, 48, said Friday on his SiriusXM radio show,Jeff LewisLive —days after telling PEOPLE exclusively about the “devastating” lawsuit. “We are tight, we are united. I feel like our relationship this week has been amazing. I never felt more like a team. We’re a solid couple.”
“I really thought we would turn on each other with this level of stress,” Lewis added. “I’ll be honest, we’re getting calls from business associates, from product manufacturers — it’s hurting my business. And Gage has been doing damage control and I’ve been doing damage control. And it’s very stressful.”
Edward agreed. “I do appreciate that and I have felt that,” he told Lewis. “It’s nice to hear. I’ve always felt that the two of us are a nice united team and it’s not a team anybody would want to cross.”
Cindy Ord/Getty Images
She is seeking damages for unlawful recording, invasion of privacy and fraud. Bravo, Authentic Entertainment, Lewis and Edward are all named in the suit.
Jeff Lewis and Monroe.Source Jeff Lewis/Instagram
Trent was seen on multiple episodes over two seasons ofFlipping Out, after Lewis and Edward hired her to carry Monroe. A season 10 episode (filmed on Oct. 25, 2016 and aired Aug. 31, 2017) documented Trent’s delivery, with Lewis and Edward — and theFlipping Outcameras — in the hospital room as it happened.
The show even captured the first moments of Monroe being placed in Lewis and Edward’s arms, for skin-to-skin contact, seconds after her birth.
During interview setups filmed afterwards and spliced into the episode, Lewis makes an off-color joke about Trent, saying, “If I was a surrogate, and I had known there was going to be an audience, I probably would have waxed. And that was the shocking part for Gage. I don’t think Gage had ever seen a vagina, let alone one that big.”
The comment — and the fact that producers had filmed her delivery allegedly without her consent — “deeply damaged Trent” and “caused incredible anguish, self-loathing, contempt and depression,” according to the legal documents.
Jeff Lewis/Instagram
Reacting to the suit on Friday’sJeff LewisLive, Lewis got emotional.
“I feel like I’m going to cry,” he said, his voice getting shaky. “It’s the biggest form of betrayal. It’s sad and it’s upsetting. I’m really trying to focus on the positive things. I’m trying to keep it together.”
But he denied the fact that Trent was ever filmed without her consent, explaining that she had signed many a non-disclosure and release form, including one built into their surrogacy agreement.
Though both Lewis and Edward said they considered Trent to be like family, they were now more upset about what will happen when their daughter uncovers this story in the years to come.
“What worries me now and what is upsetting is that our daughter, at any point in time, for the rest of her life, she has this horrible cloud,” Lewis said. “People can just Google and they know this entire story.”
“That agreement… was really meant to protect not Gage and I, but Monroe,” Lewis continued. “What worries me now and what is upsetting is that our daughter, at any point in time, for the rest of her life, she has this horrible cloud. People can just google and they know this entire story.”
Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage.Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage
All and all, Lewis said he’s trying to keep his head and his heart on his family.
“‘Just when you think everything is falling apart, it’s really coming together,’ ” he said, quoting a phrase he has pinned to his computer. “I’m really trying to focus on the positive.”
Jeff LewisLiveairs every Friday at 11 a.m. ET on Sirius XM Radio Andy (Channel 102).
source: people.com
