Olympic Alpine skier Bode Miller reached a shared custody schedule for his 14-month-old son Sam on Monday that for now avoids a potentially contentious custody battle with the child's mother, Sarah McKenna, according to the New York Daily News.
Bode, 36, and McKenna, 28, appeared at a hearing in Manhattan Family Court where they agreed to the
bicoastal schedule over the next four months, reported the New York Daily News. McKenna said the schedule will force her fly to California multiple times to see him, but relented instead of pushing for a full-fledged custody hearing.
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McKenna, a former Marine from California, is currently attending Columbia University in New York. While in California, the child will be with Bode and his wife, former volleyball star Morgan Beck, the Daily News said.
McKenna had complained after Sam spent six weeks with Miller in Europe that her son did not recognize her.
"He thought I was the nanny," McKenna said, according to the Daily News. "I never want to be separated again for such a long time."
The custody battle for the boy had turned contentious back in February. A California court earlier granted Miller custody after McKenna moved to attend Columbia while she was still pregnant. A New York appeals court, though, ruled that the California's court's decision violated McKenna’s rights.
Monday's agreement, though, gives the parents shared custody through Aug. 28, with
McKenna as the primary caretaker, the New York Post reported. A psychologist evaluation of the boy and his interactions with his parents and will be made and completed by September.
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Miller and McKenna met through the Kelleher matchmaking service and dated for three months before Miller met Beck. McKenna found out after the breakup that she was pregnant.
Miller is a five-time Olympic skier who won gold, silver, and bronze medals in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and a bronze medal in the Super G in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. His brother,
snowboarder Chelone "Chilly" Miller died last year after a seizure.