Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas' daughters, caught between two continents

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, in the midst of a divorce, have averted a possibly painful and highly public custody trial regarding their two daughters. What happened, and where are the children of the American-British couple going to go?

As Sophie Turner is a UK native and Joe Jonas is American, each of the parents wanted their daughters to live in their respective countries. Shortly after the announcement of their divorce in September 2023, the girls were with Jonas in the US. Turner alleged that he refused to return them to England.

She filed a lawsuit demanding "the immediate return of children wrongfully removed or wrongfully retained." According to People magazine, the musician responded to the lawsuit by saying, "This is an unfortunate legal disagreement about a marriage that is sadly ending."

Turner and Jonas' first daughter, Willa, was born in California, while the second, Delphine, was born in Florida. The girls are American by birth in the US but also English like their mother.

In April 2023, before the world knew about the couple's marital problems, it was established that the girls' residence would be in England. Their parents had agreed on the matter around Christmas 2022, making England their "Forever home", according to People magazine.

After Turner sued Jonas for allegedly withholding the girls' passports and keeping them in the US against her consent, a spokesperson for the singer said that the children were not "abducted" and that they hoped to "move forward in a more constructive and private manner."

The former couple soon reached several settlements in New York and Florida, the LA Times and Page Six report. For one, they agreed to share the custody of their two daughters. They will live part of the year in Britain and another part of the year in the US.

"After a productive and successful mediation, we have agreed that the children will spend time equally in loving homes in both the US and the UK," Jonas and Turner declared in a joint statement. "We look forward to being great co-parents."

The divorce comes after seven years of a relationship, four of which as a married couple. While Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas have joined a long list of celebrities who decided to separate in recent months, their disagreements, some of which leaked to the public, have certainly been among the most awkward.

Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas met in 2016 and, a year later, announced their engagement. The couple decided to take the big step and get married on May 1, 2019, in Las Vegas. A year later, the couple celebrated a second wedding in Paris. That same year they welcomed their first daughter, Willa. In 2022, their second child was born.

Photo: @sophiet / Instagram

For some time in 2023, followers of the couple noticed that the singer was no longer wearing his wedding ring. It caused rumors and questions to arise about the musician and his love life. Eventually, TMZ cited sources close to the couple who confirmed their marital crisis.

Eventually, the couple decided to make a joint statement: "After four wonderful years of marriage, we have mutually decided to amicably end our marriage... There are many speculative narratives as to why but, truly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children."

According to the divorce papers obtained by People, "the marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken." Sources said that even though they were not officially separated, the couple had already lived separated lives for months.

According to Stylecaster, this isn't the first time the couple has gone through a separation. In fact, right before their wedding, just 24 hours before the ceremony, Jonas and Turner split up. However, they got back together and got married. Yet, this time things look different. Joe Jonas is working on the divorce with two important law firms, and it seems that a permanent decision has been made.

According to TMZ, a source close to the family indicated that the two celebrities had very different lifestyles. "She likes to party, he likes to stay at home." Allegedly, Jonas was taking care of the children most of the time.

According to Page Six, another source claimed that "divorce was a last resort for Joe. He never wanted to break up his family, but he had to take what he felt was the best course of action for his girls."

"An unhappy home isn’t a home, and the truth is that he and Sophie were going through it this year. There’s a lot of noise out there, but it wasn’t a straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back situation like it’s being reported. It just kept building, and Joe finally reached a point where he felt that he had exhausted all options to salvage the marriage."

The sources talking to showbiz media all happened to be very positive about Joe Jonas' parenting skills. Besides quoting people who claimed Joe Jonas was usually the 'dad at home,' TMZ reported that the singer had also been taking care of his children "almost all the time," despite the fact that his band was on tour in the United States.

An insider told People that "as far as custody goes, this literally all just happened, so they’re figuring it out in real-time." However, the source did emphasize that "the kids were with him the last few months, traveling with him with family while he’s been on tour. Sophie’s been working in the UK." Once again, a statement that was very convenient for Joe Jonas's case.

In addition, the source informing People magazine had claimed that "as a family, they were based in Florida." However, regarding the Florida home, several American media have pointed out that the Jones-Turner Miami mansion has already been sold for a stratospheric amount of money. So, to what extent could the anonymous sources be trusted?

Based on all the information leaking in the days before the lawsuit, the New York Times did a critical analysis of the public statements by both former lovers. Joe Jonas' team appeared to be most vocal of the two. The paper headlined: "As Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner Split, It’s Time to Spin."

"The rapid-fire succession of seemingly negative stories about Ms. Turner in the lead-up to the divorce filing and the days after drew the suspicions of fans who suggested Mr. Jonas and his team had resorted to old Hollywood tactics," the New York Times claimed.

As Joe Jonas has reportedly "filed to dismiss his Miami divorce case after a successful four days of mediation with Sophie Turner," per The Independent, it seems that the former couple wants to continue their separation procedures behind closed doors. Now, it just remains to be seen whether they can really keep things private or whether new 'insiders' will knock on the doors of TMZ and People magazine again...