Ex-Gossip Girl star Kelly Rutherford is throwing in the towel after experiencing three extremely trying events in recent months. Her hit show Gossip Girl was cancelled last year and she is going through a nasty custody battle over son Hermes, 6, and daughter Helena, 4, with her now ex-husband German businessman Daniel Giersch. Rutherford filed for Bankruptcy last month.

Towards the latter part of Gossip Girl's airtime, Rutherford earned approximately $486,000 per season. However, court documents filed by Rutherford allege that her income has spiraled down to $1,279.33 per month. To top it all off, it is estimated that Rutherford has spent a whopping $1.5 million (and counting) in legal fees amidst the custody battle. She also owes $350,000 in back taxes.

The issue of custody got messy when a judge awarded custody of the couple's two young children to Giersch who resides in Monaco. The judge asserted that because Giersch's United States visa was revoked, he is unable to travel to the U.S to visit the children. Therefore, according to the court, it would be easier for Rutherford to travel to Germany for visitation.

This reasoning reveals the overarching principle in family law matters whereby a parent is not to be prevented from having reasonable access to his or her children, so long as that parent does not pose a threat to the children.

Furious with the decision, Rutherford has publicly stated that Giersch is being rewarded for having his visa revoked. While this is a valid argument, the judge seemed to be more concerned with the parents' presumed ability to travel freely and visit their children.

Rutherford, however, is alleged to be on a plane to Monaco three weekends a month to have access with her children. She will no doubt now claim that she can no longer afford this expense, and therefore she, like Giersch is unable to travel freely.

Many parents would agree that there is no price limit for fighting for their children, but Rutherford's pocket book has clearly taken all the pull it can handle and it will be very interesting to see how Rutherford's bankruptcy affects the custody ruling.

In the meantime, however, let's hope that Rutherford's bout of misfortune soon comes to an end.