Christina Ricci's ex-husband has failed in a bit to obtain emergency custody of their 11-year-old son Freddie.

The Wednesday actress and James Heerdegen - who split in 2020 - have shared legal custody of the youngster, but the 43-year-old cameraman recently filed an ex parte request for order following an alleged incident on a plane earlier this month.

According to documents obtained by TMZ, James filed for the order after Freddie texted him to say Christina had drank alcohol on a flight to Canada on 16 June.

In her response, the Yellowjackets star confirmed her son had contacted his dad and used "certain words" to describe how she drank and later acted.

However, according to the documents, attorneys acting for Freddie spoke directly with him on 18 June and he said he had "overreacted" in sending the messages, that Christina's behaviour was not how he had described and he had "no fear" being in her primary physical custody.

The court agreed documents containing the text messages between Freddie and his dad be sealed from public access after the boy's lawyer noted "there is a real threat that public access to the statements and records may jeopardise the stability of Freddie's mental health", with Christina, 46, having pushed for them to remain private as he was previously bullied.

The court denied James' request for Christina - who also has three-year-old Cleopatra with husband Mark Hampton - to undergo alcohol testing, as well as turning down his emergency custody order.

The former couple split in July 2020 after seven years of marriage, a month after Christina was granted a protective order against James following the Los Angeles Police Department being called to an alleged domestic battery incident at their home. James denied the abuse allegations and wasn't arrested, but the pair were stopped from contacting one another.

Their divorce was finalised in December 2022, with the pair agreeing to share legal custody of Freddie, though Christina had final say on his education and medical care. She also had to pay her former spouse a one-off sum of $189,687.

The Pan-Am actress married current husband Mark in October 2021, two months before their daughter was born.