Rhiannon Ingle
Joe Jonas took a moment to address the parents and parents-to-be in the room among his fans while performing onstage amid his bitter custody battle with Sophie Turner.
Jonas, 34, took to the stage at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of the Jonas Brothers' Five Albums. One Night. The World Tour. on Thursday (21 September).
Just before the trio performed the track 'Little Bird' - which each brother has dedicated to their children - the singer took it upon himself to shout-out his fellow parents amid his headline-grabbing divorce proceedings with estranged wife Sophie Turner, 27. Check it out:
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Jonas and Turner are currently engaged in a bitter dispute over their children.
Turner is suing Jonas for the return of their two children, claiming in court documents that Jonas has been withholding their daughters' passports.
The lawsuit reads: "The Father has possession of the children’s passports. He refuses to return the passports to the Mother and refuses to send the children home to England with the Mother."
The lawsuit was filed under the child abduction clauses of the Hague convention, an international treaty which aims to force the return of children to their parent if they're taken from their country of 'habitual residence'.
Jonas hit back with a blistering statement claiming the children had to remain in the US due to a court order and called Turner's suit 'a serious abuse of the legal system'
Amidst all this, Jonas appeared to allude to the messy situation at one of his Jonas Brothers concerts.
Crowd footage from the night, which has been subsequently uploaded to TikTok, shows Jonas addressing the crowd asking: "Any parents in the house?"
After a brief pause, he went on to say: "If you're trying to have kids, best of luck," before introducing the song 'Little Bird'.
The former couple confirmed their split to fans earlier this month, saying in a joint Instagram statement: "After four wonderful years of marriage we have mutually decided to amicably end our marriage.
"There are many speculative narratives as to why but, truly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children."
Jonas filed for divorce at Miami Dade County Court earlier this month (5 September), with the petition saying 'the marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken'.
It also stated that while their children have been living with Jonas in Miami and other places most recently, 'it is in the best interests of the minor children that the parties have shared parental responsibility'.
While things seemed amicable at first, Turner went on to claim she only became aware of the divorce filing when media reports began to circulate, another claim Jonas refuted in his lengthy statement.
Jonas' statement in full reads: "After multiple conversations with Sophie, Joe initiated divorce proceedings in Florida, as Florida is the appropriate jurisdiction for the case. Sophie was aware that Joe was going to file for divorce.
"The Florida Court has already entered an order that restricts both parents from relocating the children. Sophie was served with this order on September 6, 2023, more than two weeks ago.
"Joe and Sophie had a cordial meeting this past Sunday in New York, when Sophie came to New York to be with the kids.
"Less than 24 hours later, Sophie advised that she wanted to take the children permanently to the UK.
"Thereafter, she demanded via this filing that Joe hand over the children’s passports so that she could take them out of the country immediately. If he complies, Joe will be in violation of the Florida Court order."
It continued: "Joe is seeking shared parenting with the kids so that they are raised by both their mother and father, and is of course also okay with the kids being raised both in the U.S. and the UK.
"This is an unfortunate legal disagreement about a marriage that is sadly ending. When language like 'abduction' is used, it is misleading at best, and a serious abuse of the legal system at worst. The children were not abducted.
"After being in Joe’s care for the past three months at the agreement of both parties, the children are currently with their mother. Sophie is making this claim only to move the divorce proceedings to the UK and to remove the children from the U.S. permanently.
"Joe has already disavowed any and all statements purportedly made on his behalf that were disparaging of Sophie. They were made without his approval and are not consistent with his views."
UNILAD has previously reached out to Sophie Turner for comment.