Ed Westwick rallies behind Gossip Girl co-star Kelly Rutherford

ED Westwick has rallied behind his Gossip Girl co-star Kelly Rutherford by asking his Twitter followers to sign a White House petition for her.

2015 ABC Upfront

ED Westwick has rallied behind his Gossip Girl co-star Kelly Rutherford by asking his Twitter followers to sign a White House petition calling for the actress’ children to be returned to the US from France.

The mother-of-two launched the campaign on the White House website last month, calling on President Barack Obama to intervene in case after a US judge sent eight-year-old son Hermes and five-year-old daughter Helena to live with her German ex-husband, Daniel Giersch, in France in 2012.

Kelly Rutherford is desperate to get her kids back.

Ed Westwick

Rutherford needs 100,000 signatures by May 28 to have Obama address the petition directly.

She now has Westwick’s support, who called on his 722,000 Twitter followers to sign the page and spread the word, writing: “Take a minute to sign the petition urging the White House to help bring @KellyRutherford’s kids home”.

This is my friend @KellyRutherford. You (yes,you) have the power to help her get her kids back http://t.co/i32URXDhDF pic.twitter.com/AuqnIfruin

— Ed Westwick (@EdWestwick) May 12, 2015

He’s continued the push by sharing a snap of the actors onscreen together with the caption: “This is my friend @KellyRutherford. You (yes, you) have the power to help her get her kids back”.

Westwick then proceeded to tweet messages like: “She only needs 16k more signatures, there are 721k of you. YOU all have the power to help @KellyRutherford in a major way. Come on westies (fans)!” and “RT (retweet) If you think @KellyRutherford is the best mom, on and off screen, & she deserves to have her kids back!”.

Down to 12k, let's keep it going! @KellyRutherford needs your help, let's bring her kids home http://t.co/i32URXlGM7 pic.twitter.com/myRkon2iGS

— Ed Westwick (@EdWestwick) May 12, 2015

He even offered to “follow the next 100” who did as he asked and managed to add at least 4,000 signatures to the petition within an hour of tweeting about the campaign.

Westwick isn’t the only Gossip Girl cast member to show his support — Rutherford’s onscreen husband, played by Matthew Settle, has also given his backing to the cause.

Rutherford has been fighting for a review of the custody arrangement since 2012, but she suffered another setback in April when a judge denied her latest request to overturn the previous ruling.

The petition has reached the target of 100,000 signatures, with Westwick tweeting:

🎉🎉🎉 YOU GUYS did it! pic.twitter.com/GeaTNoyZsS

— Ed Westwick (@EdWestwick) May 12, 2015

Kim Kardashian, Cindy Crawford, Lisa Rinna, Selma Blair and Marcia Cross has also shown their support for Rutherford.

Originally published as Ed Westwick rallies behind Gossip Girl co-star Kelly Rutherford