Model girlfriend of One Direction's Niall Horan has 'abandoned' her son to pursue fame
Niall Horan's new girlfriend, 25-year-old Jessica Serfaty, 'abandoned' her young son to pursue her dreams of fame and fortune in Hollywood, claims her ex-husband.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail Online, Ididia Serfaty, 30, says his ex, the former America's Next Top model contestant dating the One Direction star, only sees the youngster in the summer holidays.
Despite being spotted on dates with Niall, 22, at various sporting events earlier last month she told her son Roman, now seven, she was too busy to see him during his spring break even though he begged to see her.
Her ex-husband has looked after Roman for over four-and-a-half years as a single dad at their home in Arkansas.
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Where's mommy? Jessica Serfaty's ex-husband tells Daily Mail Online exclusively he's been raising the couple's 7-year-old son as a single dad over the past four-and-a-half years in Arkansas while Jessica is living in Los Angeles. She is currently dating One Direction's Niall Horan (right)
Real life: Ididia Serfaty takes Roman to school where they live in Arkansas. He reveals Jessica only spends six weeks of summer vacation with the 7-year-old
Jessica, responding to a request for comment on her ex's claims, told Daily Mail Online that she remains a very involved parent to Roman and that she speaks to her son ever other day. (scroll down for box with Jessica's full interview).
She admitted she is a co-parenting now but insists she does want to be and has asked Ididia to move out to California with Roman so they can share custody.
In an exclusive interview, Ididia tells Daily Mail Online that Jessica, 25, is welcome to come and see her son whenever she likes, but she rarely sees him more than once a year.
While Jessica posts hundreds of glamorous pictures of herself posing in bikinis and sipping cocktails in Hollywood on her Instagram page, Ididia is busy taking Roman to school, going grocery shopping and taking care of the dozens of other responsibilities a working single father must do.
He says: 'She doesn't see Roman as regularly as you'd like to hear. We're in Arkansas and she's in LA.
'In fact it's in our divorce decree that she can fly him out to California once a month as long as he's not missing school.
'But what she takes is just six weeks in the summer.
'So she sees Roman six weeks out of every year and some Christmases. Last Christmas she didn't see him.
'But she's young. She's probably not thinking about us.
Me time: 'It's hard not to think of yourself when you are trying to build a Hollywood career,' says Ididia of Jessica not being around as a mother to son Roman
'It's hard not to think of yourself when you are trying to build a Hollywood career.
Jessica, who appeared in Blood Brothers, spent the weekend with 1D heartthrob Niall last month sparking rumors that the couple are dating.
They were spotted ringside at the UFC fight in Las Vegas before going to see an LA Galaxy match the following day.
It comes just weeks after the model and actress split with another boy band favorite - Joe Jonas, who rose to fame from the group the Jonas Brothers and is now currently lead singer of the band DNCE.
But Ididia insists he is not jealous or upset about Jessica's new love interest - he just wants her to be a good mom.
'I am just detached from it now,' he says. 'When I see she dated Joe Jonas or Niall I'm just indifferent. I don't feel good or bad it's pure indifference. It doesn't matter to me.
'What matters to me is what she does when she has Roman for those six weeks and that she's a good mother to him then.'
Ididia, a property manager, met Jessica at church when she was 16 and he 22.
She got pregnant during their first sexual encounter and the couple married when Jessica was 17.
Jessica became a stay-at-home mom in Arkansas but everything changed when she won a place on reality TV show America's Next Top Model.
After coming in fourth on the show, she decided she wanted to move to LA for her modeling career, so Ididia and Roman left everything behind to join her as she pursued her dreams.
The family lived in Hollywood for several months in 2010 before things started to deteriorate.
The couple began arguing and Jessica even left her husband and son for three days once without calling or telling him where she was, he says.
Eventually she returned and demanded a divorce, but Ididia persuaded her to give things another go and the family moved back to Arkansas at the end of 2010.
'She chose to come back to Arkansas with me and Roman and that lasted for about six months,' Ididia adds.
Teen mom: Jessica (with baby Roman) became a stay-at-home mom at 17 but everything changed when she won a place on reality TV show America's Next Top Model and the family moved to Los Angeles
Young love: Ididia met Jessica at church when she was 16 and he 22. She got pregnant at 17 and the two married settling in Arkansas
'We kept fighting as she wanted to be back in LA.
'We woke up that morning and we got in a little fight and she said 'You know what I'm done' and she really meant it.
'It was horrible - it was instant. I begged her I said, 'Jessica please! This is stupid, this is dumb, just chill out'.
JESSICA'S SIDE OF THE STORY
Jessica told Daily Mail Online that she remains a very involved parent to Roman and speaks to her son ever other day. Although she admitted she was not a co-parent at this time she insisted she does want to be and has asked Ididia to move to California with Roman so they can share custody.
Jessica said: 'Before our divorce Roman had been raised for most of his life in California with me while I was doing modeling, acting and everything and Ididia was a stay-at-home dad for two years in California.
'Then we decided to get a divorce and as part of that Ididia wanted the divorce to take place in Arkansas - where we were from - so we could be around family.
'So I put my work and career - and I had a lot of things going on at the time - I put it all on hold and went to Arkansas.
'Now in the divorce I got given a judge who was very small-minded and he said for us to have dual custody - which we both wanted - it was impossible because Ididia didn't want to leave Arkansas and I had everything we had worked for for so long back in California.
'So the judge said I could either stay in Arkansas and co-parent or do what I'm doing now and see him in summer and Christmas - because he has to go to just one school - he can't go back and forth.
'We agreed this is the way it would be for now until we would have them both move back out.
'Me and his father went through some hard times but for the past few years we have been very cordial, we help each other.
'I've made a couple of offers to him to move to California - I would pay for the move out and support him for a couple of months until he got a job and got on his feet but each time he's said he needs a bit longer.
'There's not an ounce of me that doesn't want Roman to be out here - that would be the ideal dream for both of them to move out here.
'The past couple of months have been looking really good I feel we're coming close to the time where he is going to come out here with Roman and we can co-parent again.'
Jessica said she found it hard living so far from her son - but accepts it is also hard for Roman and Ididia.
'There's some times where I call my mom up and I say, "Mom I can't do it",' she added.
'Money and success are great but there's something about family and being away from your child. 'I sometimes want to leave everything and go back home but the thing is I have a bigger vision and I've worked really hard for a long time and I love what I do.
'I see Roman out here playing in the water and I just want him to live here - he loves California he always asks all the time, "When can I go to California?" He asks his dad when he's going to move to California.
'Ididia was born and raised in California so he wants to come too - it's just a financial thing - he's nervous to start from scratch again.
'There's nothing more that I want to see his father to be a successful and for us to be two strong individuals raising a child together.
'I know he's frustrated and I know it's hard for him but we are both trying our best and that's what it comes down to.
'I don't want people to think that I'm not involved in Roman's life when I am - very much so - I send him kid books and I buy the same ones so we can read them together on Face Time.
'Even though I don't see Roman every day we chat, we Face Time and talk on the phone every other day.'
The last time she was in their home was May 3, 2010. She moved to LA some months later and ever since has seen her son only for a few weeks in the summer.
Jessica's Instagram page which boasts 277,000 followers shows her leading a jet set lifestyle - traveling the world for exotic photo shoots and partying in Hollywood.
Although Ididia admits it can be hard raising a son alone – what upsets him most is that his son has to grow up without his mother around.
'It's not easy being a single dad,' he says. 'It is hard - it is a sore subject for me.
'I want her to be a mom. I grew up without a dad - my parents lived in LA but when they got a divorce my mom moved to Arkansas and my dad stayed in LA and hardly ever saw us.
'We saw him on our summer vacation - same as Jessica. That's the source of my hurt.
'I deeply wanted more than that for Roman. I don't want Roman to have what I had - I want him to have more than what I had.'
Jet setter: Jessica posts hundreds of glamorous pictures of herself posing in bikinis
Dad duty: 'It's not easy being a single dad. It is hard - it is a sore subject for me,' says Ididia
He says it is also painful to see Roman's disappointment when he asks Jessica if he can come and see her and she says no.
'Roman wants to see his mom he loves seeing her,' Ididia explains. 'In fact he wanted to go to LA to see her for Spring Break.
'When he got the news that he couldn't go we were at the grocery store and he was on Facetime with her and he just said: "What's my answer? Yes or no? Yes or no?" because she had to get off the phone.
'When he finally got his answer he was down. When she said no I wasn't really surprised. She said she was busy for work but it's hurtful to see your son upset.
Ididia, who has been single since he split with Jessica choosing to focus on being a good dad, still refuses to criticize his ex-wife.
'I want to be honest but I don't want to bash her,' he tells. 'I went through a phase myself where I bashed her and I said those things that other people say about how she has chosen the Hollywood lifestyle over her son but the last thing I want to do now is go backwards in my life and start criticizing my ex-wife for her choices.
'I would rather empower Jessica to be the mom that I know she is than deteriorate the mom she is by criticism.'
But he does believe the brunette will live to regret not spending more time with her son as she gets older.
'When she's older she's going to regret it. You know she's partying with these guys from boy bands and whatever but that will only last five minutes.
'The bottom line is these are his formative years and she's never going to get them back.
Sexy snap: Jessica posted this photo to her Instagram account with the caption, 'snowboarding naked.... There's a first time for everything'
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Share 1.2k shares'If you're only spending six weeks a year with him in his formative years how much influence are you during that season of life for him?'
He also feels like despite making the ultimate sacrifice, choosing to pursue her career over being a mother, she is merely chasing money rather than working to achieve her dreams.
'I've told Jessica this – "If you're going to be in LA away from Roman stop chasing money and go out there and follow your dreams to be an actress like you really want to be".'
Ididia, a strict Christian, tells Daily Mail Online although he doesn't have feelings for his ex anymore he won't discount them ever getting back together – as he believes God would want them to be together as a family.
But he admits that he doesn't think Jessica would ever return to him.
'My hope for Jessica is not that she comes back to me - I'm cool.
'I enjoy being single and I love my life with Roman. We have fun.
'I'm a pilot. I have my own plane. Me and Roman - we fly all over the place. We enjoy life.
'My hopes for Jessica are number one that she becomes a woman of God and number two that she becomes the mom she truly is.
'And of course I want her to reach her dreams whatever those are. I think that those dreams might shift as soon as the first two start to be fulfilled though.'
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