Jeff Lewis Says Gage Edward Sent Him a Cease and Desist Letter Following Claims About Their Custody Battle

Jeff Lewis and Gage Edward have hit an impasse as they continue to hash out the details of their custody agreement over 3-year-old daughter Monroe.

Jeff shared an update on his ongoing custody battle with ex Gage on his Radio Andy show Jeff Lewis Live on January 16. The former Flipping Out couple, who were together for 10 years before splitting last January, have a temporary custody agreement in which Jeff has her for 70 percent of the time and Gage 30 percent.

However, Jeff said that for several months, Gage has talked about wanting 50-50 custody. Gage then suggested a 57-43 split, in favor of Jeff, around the holidays in December.

But Jeff said that he is really pushing to keep the 70-30 schedule. “The reason I think it should stay the way it is because a) I think it’s best for Monroe, and b) I put Monroe first before myself and everything I do is Monroe-centric," Jeff explained. "He’s not even honoring the current schedule at 30 percent. So how you going to do 43, if you can’t even do 30?”

Currently, Gage has Monroe on Thursdays, Sundays, and a few hours on Tuesdays. But according to Jeff, Gage hasn't been fully sticking to that schedule due to traveling outside of the country recently, which Jeff said he only found out about by looking at his Instagram. "If you can't even honor your 30 percent, how are you somehow justifying your 43 percent?" Jeff said. "It's not making sense to me."

Gage ended up sending a custody agreement to Jeff's attorney. When Jeff asked Gage over the phone if any of the financial terms were included in that agreement, Gage had "an overreaction," according to Jeff. 

"It was such an overreaction that I was like, ding, ding, ding, what's this about? What's going on here? Because we had talked about like a cash up front kind of thing and just be done. He said he was gonna waive child support," Jeff said. "But I think now after that overreaction, there's a whole plan in place. There's a whole plan. And so I said, 'I don't know what's going on here, but I'm gonna want everything included in this agreement. And I want to hammer out all the details.'"

Jeff said that he feels like Gage's actions are "money-motivated." "Normally, when someone is really caught up in the days and hours and the percentages, it usually means there's some sort of child support motivation," Jeff said.

"And that is why I’m going to fight this to the bitter f--king end,” Jeff continued. “If I felt like the motivation was pure and this was about our daughter, then I would be very open to mediation or whatever. But because I don't believe this is serving her best interest, I will fight it. And if we have to go to court, we go to court.”

Gage addressed Jeff's comments on his radio show in a statement to PEOPLE. “I will continue to stay silent on the issues related to our private custody case. To address the derogatory and slanderous statements being made about me would be putting my interest above our daughter’s. The situation is being exploited for attention, which is sad because that ultimately only affects our daughter later," Gage said. "What I will say is that there are gross mistruths in the majority of what’s been said.”

Jeff defended his comments during the January 21 episode of his radio show, maintaining that a "majority" of what he said was "fact-based." “I’ve said this over and over, it would be defamatory to say that he’s not a good dad. And guess what? I’ve never said that because I believe he’s a good dad. I think he’s a very good dad,” Jeff said, as reported by PEOPLE. 

“I don’t believe he is prepared to take her for more than 30 percent of the time, which is what he has now,” Jeff continued. “I don’t think that’s defamatory. It’s just my opinion. These are not slanderous statements. These are the things that I wanted to be clear.”

Jeff also said on his radio show that he received "a cease and desist letter from Gage’s attorney on Friday," which PEOPLE later confirmed. However, the publication said that Gage had no comment on the legal action.

The Flipping Out designer said that talking about his life is just part of his job as a radio show host. “I never signed a confidentiality agreement. There’s no deal points going back and forth; these are just conversations Gage and I are having. I feel like I’m paid to talk about my life, I’m paid to do that,” Jeff said, adding that he and Gage have similarly been open about their lives on Flipping Out. “We went into the radio together, he was paid to share our lives on the radio. Now that doesn’t suit him, so he wants that to stop. Well, he’s already a public person.”

Jeff noted that Gage shares photos of himself and their daughter Monroe on his public Instagram account, which has more than 43,000 followers.

As far as Gage's claim that their custody battle "situation is being exploited for attention," Jeff said that "is not true."

Co-parenting has been filled with ups and downs for Jeff and Gage since they decided to break up. However, Jeff was optimistic about having a better relationship with Gage moving forward while speaking on his radio show in November. "I hope we have a friendship. I would like to have a friendship with Gage," he said. "And that's what I'm putting out there."