Filed under 'Daniel Giersch'

Gossip Girl star Kelly Rutherford was granted a temporary restraining order Thursday (Sept. 24) against her estranged husband Daniel Giersch, PEOPLE reports.

Rutherford claims the German entrepreneur has repeatedly harassed her and her family: "[He] has begun to follow me, my mother and my nanny and he shows up unexpectedly to threaten and scare us," says the order, which is in effect for 21 days pending a court date to hear evidence.

Giersch's lawyer, Fahi Takesh Hallin, released the following statement: "Daniel will remain focused on co-parenting both of their children and not make any personal comments in order to continue to protect the children's need for privacy and well being."

The estranged couple have been battling in court over their two children: son Hermés, who turns 3 next month, and daughter Helena, 3 months. A hearing date is set for Oct. 15.

Gossip Girl Kelly Rutherford, who gave birth to her second child, Helena Grace, on June 8, made the tough decision to file for divorce from husband Daniel Giersch when she was just three months pregnant. Kelly, 40, recently spoke to Life & Style about her stressful split, the cold custody battle and her plans to be a single mother.

When Kelly found out that she was pregnant again, she had hopes that a new baby might be just what they needed to save their already faltering marriage. “I found out I was pregnant, and I thought, oh, maybe things will be nice, maybe it will be calm,” says Kelly. “But it wasn’t. Things only got more intense.”

The stresses at home were only exacerbated by troubles with her husband’s job. “He was very litigious. He says he’s an entrepreneur, but I think he just sues people. It was very angry [behavior]. I was kind of scared to leave.”

A close friend of the actress, Suzannah, tells Life & Style: “[Daniel was] cold, controlling and paranoid – he threatened to ruin her career and sabotage her. He gave me the creeps, and he was beginning to get scary. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get away.”

Regardless of issues with her ex-husband, Kelly is thriving as a parent and doesn’t believe that she needs a man to complete the equation: “A lot of great men, presidents even, were raised [only] by their mother under those conditions. The most important thing is that the children have love and stability in their lives, whether that comes from a mother or a father. [Alone], I can raise them to be much more peaceful.”

Kelly and Daniel are also parents to 2-year-old Hermes.

Kelly Rutherford's divorce from her husband Daniel Giersch is proving to be a less than amicable one.

Court documents reveal that the Gossip Girl star hired a private investigator to conduct video surveillance on her ex out of concern for their 2-year-old son Hermés' safety.

The documents indicate that Kelly is worried that a pool at Daniel's home poses a risk to their toddler.

"Hermés is very young, very active, not water safe and in a moment's notice, could fall into the swimming pool," Kelly claims.

Daniel denies the claims saying, "Hermes is not in any danger whatsoever with regard to my pool because I have the pool fully covered with an automatic pool cover. Hermés has no access to the pool area unless I take him to the pool myself."

The court has requested that Daniel keep the pool covered at all times while Hermes is with him.

Kelly and Daniel will be back in court tomorrow to debate, believe it or not, potty training. Kelly, who is expecting the couple's second child - a girl - this summer, reportedly wants her ex to stop trying to potty train Hermés until after the stress of the court proceedings has passed.