Jaime King Breaks Silence on Being Sued by Landlord Amid Divorce: ‘Disappointing’

Jaime King has broken her silence for the first time since being sued by her former landlord.

“The situation with my landlord was resolved privately,” King, 45, told Us Weekly on Monday, March 24. “It’s disappointing — but not surprising — to see someone try to exploit this moment for attention. I am currently focused on what matters most: my children.”

Court documents obtained by Us on Saturday, March 22, showed that King, 45, was sued by her landlord Sheila Irani in January. King was reportedly forced to move out of her rental home in Los Angeles over the legal issue.

The actress signed her lease for the rental property in April 2023, with a rent price of $10,145 per month. She allegedly owed approximately $42,580 in back rent and, per the filing, had “not paid [her landlord] any money, whatsoever” since January.

Irani’s complaint for breach of contract stated she had locked King out of the property until payment was settled. Irani further alleged that King had been “maliciously” staying on the property as an unlawful detainer. King’s attorney denied the allegations against the actress in an amended court motion.

“[Irani] claims that [King] remains on the property maliciously,” the amended court docs stated. “This is false. [King] has attempted to raise the funds for the back due rent, but claims unavoidable hardship due to the L.A. wildfires and distracted by active litigation.”

King’s attorneys continued, “[King] has expressed to [Irani] multiple times that she desires to pay the past due rent and vacate the premises prior to the end of the lease. She has been acting in good faith to raise the funds to due so, however suffered continued setbacks and hardship due to the Los Angeles wildfires, which came within 800 feet of her home, forcing her to flee her home after mandatory evacuation orders were issued in the Nichols Canyon fire.”

King’s lawyers also noted she was “involved in active litigation concerning the custody of her children,” saying, “[The custody battle] has been extremely stressful and distracting from her work, which [Irani] is fully aware of in that an eviction would be detrimental to [King’s] custody matter.”

Us confirmed earlier in March that King’s ex-husband Kyle Newman had been granted sole physical custody of their children — sons James, 11, and Leo, 9 — after the actress allegedly failed to complete a six-month drug and alcohol rehabilitation program and 26-week parenting course.

Despite their legal battle, King and Irani eventually reached a settlement that the Hart of Dixie alum would turn over the keys, waive receipt of her security deposit and vacate the premises by Saturday.

“King acknowledges that her delay in meeting the March 22, 2025 move-out date will cause Irani significant and incalculable damages including but not limited to the inability to rent the premises to a new tenant beginning on April 1, 2025,” the docs read. “Accordingly, King agrees to pay Irani the additional sum of $1,000 per day for each day or part of a day as holdover rent.”