Randy Brooke

The heartbreak continues for Kelly Rutherford.

During a recent appearance on Good Morning America, the Gossip Girl alum, 46, said a federal court denied her request to bring her children – son Hermés, 8, and daughter Helena, 5 – back home to New York City.

“I know it’s not right. Parents know — everyone knows it’s not right,” Rutherford said of the devastating court ruling. “I can sit here and tell you how often I cry. I can tell you how it feels to leave my kids in a foreign country and seeing them after not seeing them for weeks on end. Not being able to bring them from school and pick them up from school, dress them, hug them, smell them.”

Here’s how the story unfolds: Rutherford’s ex-husband, German-born Daniel Giersch, was granted custody of their two children in 2012. According to court reports, Rutherford technically has 50/50 custody. However, since a judge ruled that the children would live with their father, who resides in Monaco, in order for Rutherford to see them she must either travel to Monaco or wait for the summer when they stay with her in New York.

To complicate matters further, the judge placed the children with their father because Giersch is unable to get a visa to stay in the U.S. Rutherford has since filed for bankruptcy, citing $2 million in debt from this custody battle.

“I told my son, ‘Mommy is still fighting for you,’” she recalled during the GMA interview. “My children, not only were they taken away, but they were sent to a foreign country. I don’t even know how you explain to someone what it feels like.”

In an attempt to help other broken families in similar circumstances, the actress created the organization The Children’s Justice Campaign.