Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson is the father of a baby girl, according to a DNA test, and must pay child support. Jefferson was previously accused of pressuring his ex-girlfriend to abort the baby girl.
In March, Andrea Galea, a licensed attorney, sued Jefferson. Galea said she and Jefferson were originally college sweethearts, and had begun dating again last year. This resulted in a pregnancy, which Galea claimed Jefferson wanted her to end by killing their preborn child. She refused, and gave birth to Stella Anastasia in December; she said he has not paid her any child support since then.
Jefferson then countersued, claiming Galea was trying to claim he fathered her child as a means to boosting her social media following. Galea responded by releasing text messages between the two of them:
‘So are you okay with getting this [situated],’ Jefferson wrote Galea in one text message included in his filing.
In another exchange, Jefferson questions if Galea used Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, to end the pregnancy.
‘The more u wait the harder the situation will be that’s why I wanted to get you the planB [because] I didn’t want to be in this situation but it’s totally my fault I shouldn’t have done it in the first place,’ he wrote in one text message.
Galea then responds: ‘Justin I took the plan b though it was just too late for it to be effective. Sometimes depending on the cycle unless you take it within like 2 hours it can be too late… and two people are always at fault in this. Personally I’ve never faced a situation like this…’
She said it was after these messages that Jefferson began pressuring her to abort the baby, and when she refused, he chose to stop communication with her. “Upon his realization that he could not persuade the Plaintiff to abort the pregnancy, Defendant began acting towards her with great insensitivity and extreme cruelty,” the lawsuit said. “The Defendant blocked the Plaintiff from communicating with him, and coldly told her to ‘[T]alk to me when the legal stuff come up.”
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After the baby was born, he allegedly continued treating her coldly. “U wanted the kid you can take care of it [sic],” he reportedly wrote. “Again u don’t know me for the last time. u swear I know me. AND THIS IS A KID. A WHOLE CHILD. I tried to tell u this was how it was going to go u didn’t believe me. Call your mom and talk to her she the one that influenced you to go through with it. Tell her to come and help you.”
Ultimately, Jefferson lost his lawsuit. The Daily Mail reported that Judge Aldo J Russo ordered a paternity test, which determined that he is Stella’s father, and that he must now pay child support. He also required the two to remain in contact about Stella’s well-being, and established a framework for visits.
“All communication between the parties shall be in a non-derogatory, non-harassing manner only about the health, education, and well-being of the minor child,” Russo wrote. “A party receiving a communication shall respond to that communication within 6 hours or less.”
The United States has the highest rate of single parenthood in the world. Live Action discusses the effects of fatherlessness on families in the video below:
For her part, Galea seems focused on her daughter and ensuring that she has the best possible future.
“You’re my greatest accomplishment. To be your mommy is a gift and blessing. It also shows me that when things get hard, challenging, or uncertain that I need to show strength and resilience for you,” she wrote on Instagram. “My little princess will always know she’s loved and she can count on me to be her rock. 12-21-2023 is the day my life changed forever and God gave me the most ultimate love. No matter what the world throws at us, we got this!”
