Mischa Barton Latest Star to Sue Parents
Actress follows long line of stars who have sued parents managing their careers.
— -- Family and business don't always mix, but when there's a celebrity in the family, things can get downright nasty.
Latest case in point is Mischa Barton, who is suing her mother and manager, Nuala Barton.
In a lawsuit filed recently in the Los Angeles Superior Court, the 29-year-old actress calls Nuala, among other things, a "greedy stage mother...who schemed to defraud her unsuspecting victim" to exploit her daughter’s career "for her own selfish benefit."
Nuala began acting as Barton's manager when her daughter was 8.
"We brought this action on behalf of our client Mischa Barton against Nuala Barton so that Mischa can get closure to move on with her career and to get to the bottom of what happened to all of her money," Barton’s attorney, Alex Weingarten, told ABC News Wednesday.
A representative for Nuala Barton responded to her daughter’s claims in a statement to ABC News, saying, "Ms. Barton is extremely troubled by such outrageous and patently false claims of dishonest or improper conduct against Mischa Barton."
It may be up to the court to settle this dispute. Here's what happened when some other stars sued their parents:
Ariel Winter and Chrisoula Workman
In 2012, the mother of teen actress Ariel Winter, who plays Alex Dunphy in the hit sitcom "Modern Family," lost custody of her daughter and was stripped of any role in her daughter's finances amid allegations of emotional and physical abuse.
Winter, now 17, said her mother physically and emotionally abused her, including slapping her and calling her fat, on the set of the popular ABC production.
Though Workman denied the allegations -- "I would never abuse her in any way and I have always tried my best to always protect her and do what is right for her," she said in a statement -- a judge ordered her to step down and allowed Winter to live with her adult sister.
Children and Family Services also concluded that Workman emotionally abused Winter, but called the claims of physical abuse "inconclusive."
The actress's mom eventually agreed to a settlement that cut her out of her daughter's career.
Gary Coleman and Sue and Will Coleman
Child star Gary Coleman reached TV superstardom playing Arnold Jackson on "Diff'rent Strokes" in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but when the show ended and his career stalled, he sued his parents and former manager over misappropriation of his $3.8 million trust fund.
In 1993, Coleman won a ruling of almost $1.3 million, but in 1999, he filed for bankruptcy, attributing his financial problems to mismanagement of his trust.
Coleman, who suffered from health problems, including a congenital kidney condition, for much of his life, remained estranged from his parents until his death in 2010 from an intracranial hemorrhage.
LeAnn Rimes and Wilbur Rimes
LeAnn Rimes burst on the music scene in the mid-'90s. By 14, she had already made music history, becoming not only the youngest artist to be nominated for an Academy of Country Music award, but also the first country singer to win a Grammy for Best New Artist, in 1996.
In June 2012, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that Leighton Meester never has to pay her mother another dime.
Constance Meester, who gave birth to her daughter while serving time in a federal prison for a drug smuggling conviction, told TMZ in 2011 that her daughter promised to give her $10,000 a month for the rest of her life.
Meester, who had previously booted her mother as manager, asked a judge to rule that no such agreement existed and that she was not contractually bound to pay her a single cent.
