The 5-year-old threatened to cut ties unless Lewis stopped talking about her on his radio show.
update 1/4/2022 11:59 p.m. PT
Despite emphasizing that his preference is to not "engage," that's exactly what Jeff Lewis' ex Gage Edward did with a statement released Tuesday following Lewis talking about their daughter asking him to stop talking about her on the air.
In his statement, he said that there have been "many mistruths" spoken about him over the past three years, but he's opted to comment only rarely, because engaging regularly "would be to put my ego above my daughter."
Now, though, his reason for speaking out is because it's not really about him, despite the fact Lewis accused him of using their daughter to get back at him and even getting into her head -- Lewis insists he only ever says positive things about Monroe.
Nevertheless, in his statement, Edward described Lewis regularly talking about their daughter as "continued exploitation of a minor for content."
"In the past and certainly recently, untrue and false stories have been told with an embellished narrative about my daughter," wrote Edward. "The embellishments are likely because they are more interesting in the scheme of what's currently going on. it's more jarring, more likely to be written about."
Edward calls the whole thing "calculated," suggesting that Lewis is doing this intentionally because it gets him more press in the media, and subsequently more listeners. He then called out SiriusXM and the executives and producers at RadioAndy for facilitating this cross-media communication.
"What you may not know is that most press don't always actively listen to this show," he wrote, instead saying that the company's "PR machine" packages clips, files, and even copy and headline ideas to send to the press. "I've seen the emails," he wrote. "This really happens."
"The person you are leveraging however is 5-years old," Edward closed his statement. "It's gross. She has a right to privacy. Enough is enough."
original story 1/4/2022 8:20 a.m. PT
Jeff Lewis opened up about an upsetting conversation he had with his 5-year-old daughter Monroe Christine after her apparent rejection to various private schools.
During an episode of "Jeff Lewis Live" on Monday, the star said his daughter begged him to stop mentioning her on the show or she would stop speaking to him.
This revelation came after an episode of his SiriusXM show last week, where the 51-year-old claimed his daughter had been denied admission to several private schools due to his publicity and had been considering Catholic school for her education instead.
He claims his ex-partner Gage Edward, who co-parents Monroe, decided to tell their daughter what had been going on with Lewis in the media after she stated that she was afraid of nuns.
Jeff Lewis Had Secret Romance with Ex Gage Edward -- But It 'Didn't Work Out'
View Story"Gage thought he should tell her that I've been talking about her on the radio and that as a result, she's not going to be admitted to certain schools and that she's going to have to go to a Catholic school with the nuns."
"So she called me crying and… she was pretty mad," he continued. "I didn't expect her to say this so young, I expected her to say this when she was a teenager, but she said if I continue to talk about her on the radio that she will not see me again until she's a grownup."
"I texted Gage and I said, 'Look, I never say anything negative about Monroe to you ever and this feels decisive,'" the "Flipping Out" star said. "'I would never want to turn her against you, which is what it seems like you are doing right now. You're mad at me, please don't use her to take it out on me.'"
"I don't appreciate him getting in her head about these things and I hope he realizes he's made a mistake in using her to get back at me," he added.
Jeff Lewis Matches with New Surrogate, Re-Lists Home to Move Before Baby #2
View StoryThe radio host then referenced that holiday party that recently put him in hot water.
"Gage and I in the last week or two have been getting along famously and coparenting nicely until all those articles [about the party] came out," he said.
"This is very bad timing for us," he admitted. "We've heard back from one school, and they got back to us right away. They said, 'We know who you are. We know who Monroe is and... we are not interested in Monroe.' That's what they said."
"I want a good education for my daughter and I think there's a lot of options out there. I don't think it's one of these 5 schools that Gage and I have picked. If they choose not to admit her, that's fine. We're going to find the right school for her," he concluded.