Williams requested the courts decrease his $40,000 monthly child support payments since the actor is no longer making the same amount of money after leaving his role on ABC TV show Grey’s Anatomy. According to 2019 financial records, the actor earned $6.2 million from the show and another $183 in residuals Radar Online reported.

The divorced couple currently shares joint custody of their two kids, Sadie and Maceo. Lee, however, argues that Williams should fulfill the current agreement. In December, Williams filed court documents saying he left the show to “grow and shape my career before the looming end of the show.”

“I am 41 years old and there is a long history of actors who become defined by one long-running role, who struggled to be seen (and employed) differently beyond that role.”

Williams is now starring in a Broadway play, Take Me Out and explains that his income from January 2021 to November 2021 was reduced to $660k. The actor disclosed that he only makes $1,668 from the show.

“My current income is far from sufficient to maintain a $40,000 per month child support number, especially since I still pay one-half of the children’s private school tuition, the children’s extracurricular activities, medical care, and all of their expenses when they are with me including child-care and my own expenses,” the actor wrote.

“I am requesting the court reduce the child support to a reasonable amount I can afford given the significant reduction in my income and the now fluctuating nature of my income. The child support should also be reflective of our two young children’s actual lifestyle and not some exorbitant/imagined version,” he concluded.

Williams says his ex-wife holds an Ivy League degree and made a six-figure salary as a real estate broker in California and New York.

Lee’s attorney responded back at her ex-husband’s request.

“[Jesse] left a favorable, coveted, high-paying position on a successful T.V. show, in pursuit of his “own path,” and now seeks to shed his family responsibilities,” the motion read.

Lee says Williams is placing his needs before his children. “In his Request, [Jesse] mentions [Aryn’s] education and prior earnings as a real estate agent. However, he fails to mention that [Aryn] gave up her thriving career in New York for him more than 13 years ago, to relocate to California to support and focus on building his acting career and businesses. Her “income” during the marriage as his unofficial manager, is comparable to her income now,” her lawyer wrote.

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