Real Housewives' Deadbeat Dad

According to court documents, Slade Smiley, boyfriend of Real Housewives of Orange County star Gretchen Rossi, owes $138,857.64 in unpaid child support for his 10-year-old son Grayson who suffers from a rare form of brain cancer leaving the child’s mother strapped with insurmountable medical bills, exceeding $1 million.

On Sunday’s episode, Smiley spent a good deal of time insisting to his own mother that he has a job, although even she didn’t seem to believe him. But the court documents show that Slade—who was arrested in 2009 for nonpayment of child support and has since had his driver’s license suspended—hasn’t worked regularly in nearly three years, claiming to have earned no income in 2009, and taken home a mere $416 a month in 2010 (about $5000), reportedly for his involvement with Housewives. However, he admitted in court last year that his payments were directed to Rossi and re-directed to him to avoid mandatory deductions, which is a pretty slimy thing to admit to on the record.

The courts wanted proof that Smiley had been actively looking for work and he actually submitted “various Facebook and Twitter entries showing his attendance at various public and social events. He essentially describes these activities as networking with the purpose of securing employment in the entertainment field.” The judge has since ordered Smiley to “expand his efforts beyond entertainment and title insurance/real estate, and to document his efforts by keeping a detailed log” and to contact at least five potential employers every two weeks.

For her part, Rossi spent a great deal of time in her Bravo blog defending Smiley, and blaming the bad press as the reason for his unemployment:

Unfortunately the hard reality is that because of the false press that is out there, the second a employer googles his name an article stating that he is a deadbeat father is what they find. How can one parent possibly get a job, if another parent is in the press creating the very thing that is keeping him from getting that job to help?

Real Housewives Of Orange County’s Slade Smiley Still Jobless And $130k In Debt [Radar]