Former Child Actress Granted More Than $800K After Suing Her Parents

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) —   A Superior Court judge granted a judgment of more than $800,000 to a former child actress who accused her parents of stealing most of the $1 million she earned during the early part of her career.

Rae'ven Larrymore Kelly, now 31, played a young Tina Turner in the 1993 film "What's Love Got to do With It," as well as playing in the acclaimed 1991-93 Sam Waterson NBC series "I'll Fly Away."

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Samantha Jessner, in a judgment signed Feb. 3, ordered Phyllis Larrymore-Kelly and Kevin Kelly to pay $767,610 to their daughter to compensate her for money she maintained her parents took for their own use.

Jessner also directed each parent to pay another $30,000 each to their daughter stemming from the actress' defamation claims.

Phyllis Kelly formerly served as her daughter's business manager.

Both parents also must pay $12,500 each to compensate their daughter's then-fiancee, co-plaintiff Sean Dinwoodie, for his defamation claims. Kelly and Dinwoodie are now married.

As a child actress Kelly also had prominent roles in the 1996 film "A Time to Kill," with Samuel L. Jackson and Sandra Bullock, "Ghosts of Mississippi" and guest roles in the television shows "ER," "Touched By an Angel," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Living Single," and "Roseanne."

Kelly's suit alleged her parents used her income "as their personal slush fund to subsidize their own lifestyle and expenses and to invest in their own projects."

Her suit alleged that her mother forged her signature on bank signature cards and on checks endorsed to the actress,

When Kelly asked for an accounting of her income in Feb. 2015, , her mother "flatly refused" and said, "I should have aborted you," according to the lawsuit.

The Kellys disapproved of their daughter's relationship with Dinwoodie and told his mother that he was "gay or bixsexual" and "produces pornography," the complaint states.

Kelly's parents told third parties that their daughter was "performing in pornographic videos" and that she had AIDS and that she was "doing illegal drugs," according to the lawsuit.

In a sworn declaration, Kelly said her parents minimized the amount of money she made.

"Throughout my childhood and as an adult, defendants told me I earned only nominal amounts during my career and that those funds were being held in secure accounts for my benefit," Kelly said. "In fact, Mrs. Kelly told me that the largest residual check I ever received was $75."

Kelly said she believed her mother and father.

"I had no reason to think that my own parents were lying or stealing from me," Kelly said.

For more about Rae'Ven Kelly, click here.