Sherri Shepherd’s surrogate speaks: She deserted me and her child

Sherri Shepherd and her husband were supposed to have a baby together via surrogate — but when their marriage broke up, Shepherd pulled a disappearing act. Now the surrogate is stuck in a ridiculous loophole.

Shepherd and her former husband, Lamar Sally, were excitedly looking forward to starting a family together, but the woman they chose as their surrogate when Shepherd had difficulty getting pregnant says the former cohost of The View has left her and the baby high and dry — and possibly on the hook for a lot of money.

Jessica Bartholomew sat down with Inside Edition to tell her side of the story and says the really messed-up laws of California are threatening to cost her a ton of money.

“I am angry with Sherri because she never once contacted me to tell me what was happening. It was kind of like I was left out in the cold,” Bartholomew told the show.

More:15 Celebrity divorce stories that totally broke our hearts

Explaining that Shepherd just backed out of the surrogacy agreement with no warning, she said, “I would ask Sherri why she did what she did — if she thought it was OK to do something like that… I just don’t understand how she can act like this baby is nonexistent. It just blows my mind.”

While Sally does have custody of the baby — a boy named Lamar, Jr. — Bartholomew says she could be on the hook for child support because of Shepherd’s disappearing act. When the baby was born and Shepherd was nowhere to be found, Bartholomew had to be listed as the mother on the birth certificate. Now Sally has applied for Medi-Cal for his son, a type of subsidized health insurance provided to low-income families, and since Bartholomew is listed as the non-custodial parent, the state is going after her for child support.

“I am now listed as a noncustodial parent in California. I have a child support case coming against me now,” she said.

That revelation will come as a rude awakening to all the women contemplating becoming a surrogate themselves.

While Shepherd has not directly addressed the controversy, she told blogger, Sandra Rose, back in September, “Remember there is always more sides to a story than the ‘exclusive’ stories one person is selling for money to the tabloids.”