Goran Visnjic, star of NBC’s long-running medical drama, ER, has admitted that he is the father of a baby girl born to a Croatian woman named Mirela Rupic, with whom Visnjic had an affair in 2006.
The 35-year-old actor did not travel to Zagreb for a DNA test scheduled for Friday. Instead, he sent a document confirming he was the father of eight-month-old Lana Lourdes.
“He admitted paternity without DNA testing,” a lawyer for Rupic, 36, told the Jutarnji List Daily.
The publication also claims that Rupic is hoping to receive 10,000 kunas, or $1,990, every month from Goran Visnjic, but the ER star has only offered 9,000. A tribunal scheduled for later this month will decide the exact amount Visnjic will have to pay in monthly child support.
Reports about the child first surfaced in July, when Rupic told the local media that she had a summer affair with Visnjic in 2006, after which she gave birth to their daughter.
At the time, Rupic claimed that Visnjic had been aware of the pregnancy from the very beginning, and had even sent her money amounting to 1,000 every month until mid-July. Visnjic, on the other hand, admitted to the affair, but failed to confirm that he was the father of Rupic’s baby, only saying that he would be willing to pay child support if the child is proven to be his.
Now that Visnjic has confessed to being the child’s father, Rupic only has kind words to say about the actor.
“When I learned that he admitted the child I started to cry. It proves that he is a great man,” she was quoted as saying.
What this means for Goran Visnjic‘s marriage to Ivana Vrdoljak is still uncertain, although recent media reports suggest that the couple’s eight-year-old marriage is in crisis. Vinsjic and Vrdjolak adopted a baby boy early this year, although they do not have any biological children.
As for Visnjic’s career, he recently returned to ER after departing from the series at the end of the previous season. He is expected to appear in at least seven episodes before he makes another exit in Spring 2008.
-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnists
Source: AFP
(Image Courtesy of MSN)
Staff Columnist, BuddyTV
