Rory Feek’s conflict with his eldest daughters doesn’t seem to be any closer to being resolved. According to the country singer, neither 37-year-old Heidi nor 35-year-old Hopie will agree to meet him without a licensed professional present amid their legal dispute over the care of 10-year-old Indiana, leading to an “impasse” in their proceedings.
While discussing the matter in a recent blog post titled “Canceled,” Rory wrote that the “only thing [he’s] guilty of is being part of a family that isn’t perfect.”
“I drove down to Florence, AL where they live about a week and a half ago and knocked on Heidi’s door with two bouquets of peace lilly flowers, and hopes that we might be able to sit down and talk,” he continued. “But, even though their cars were in the driveway and they were inside, no one answered … On the drive back I received a text from Heidi that said, ‘We are only willing to talk with you with a licensed therapist or attorney or both.’”
“That is where the impasse comes in,” Rory went on. “They believe that it’s the job of a someone with a doctorate, legal, or masters degree to repair what is broken in our family. And I believe that it’s our job.”
The post comes after his adult daughters Heidi and Hopie — whom Rory welcomed during his first marriage to Tamara Gilmer — wrote on Instagram that they would be “pursuing legal action because we no longer believe Indiana is safe” under their father’s care. It came just weeks after the singer married Indiana’s teacher, Rebecca, in July.
In their open letter, Heidi and Hopie accused Rory of leaving Indiana — whom the musician shares with late wife and Joey + Rory bandmate Joey Feek — in the care of unfamiliar family members while he and his new wife left to go on their honeymoon. Heidi also reportedly expressed concerns that her little sister was being cared for by a group identified as the Montana branch of the Homestead Heritage, which calls itself an “agrarian- and craft-based intentional Christian community” and was previously hit with accusations of sexual abuse of children in 2012, which the group denied.
In a previous blog post, Rory denied that the group was unsafe or a “cult,” but affirmed Heidi and Hopie’s claims that he’d cut off contact between them and Indiana. His reasoning stemmed from his eldest daughters carrying “completely different” beliefs from his conservative values, and he claimed that they were exposing his youngest daughter to movies and music that he didn’t approve of.
Of Rory’s claim that he was ignored upon his visit to their house, Heidi told People she wasn’t home when he arrived, but Hopie, who was at the residence, started having a panic attack when he showed up unannounced. She added that Hopie called her and their lawyer for about four minutes, but by the time the call ended, Rory had already left.
“Regardless of the intention, it came off as intimidating,” she told the publication. “We’ve set really clear boundaries. We have such a hard time communicating with him and feeling heard that we really don’t feel like it’s possible without a third party.”
