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Paul Anka did it his way — and now he has sole custody of his son Ethan, 11.
His ex-wife, former Miss Sweden Anna Åberg, is barred from having any contact with their boy.
“It’s the greatest day of my life. This was all about protecting Ethan. The system has worked,” Anka — the 75-year-old musician who wrote one of Frank Sinatra’s biggest hits, “My Way” — told me.
Åberg, 46, hadn’t seen the boy in more than two years, after Ethan testified that he “has an intense dislike of his mother.” But Åberg’s attorney Lisa Helfend Meyer argued, “There is no evidence, no facts, no court finding on her being an unfit mother.”
Meyer claimed Anka — a pop star in the ’50s with such hits as “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” “Diana” and “Lonely Boy” — prevailed using his fame and his wealth.
“His reported income is about $300,000 a month,” Meyer said. “He’s been able to out-lawyer a woman who doesn’t have the finances or the celebrity to combat him.”
Meyer argued in California’s Ventura County Superior Court in favor of “family reunification” — the idea that a child turned by one parent against the other needs to be reunited with the aggrieved parent.
“Even drunks and addicts get to call and see their children,” Meyer said.
But Åberg didn’t help her cause when she confronted Anka’s third wife, Lisa Pemberton, outside the courtroom and shouted, “Get a life!”
Pemberton calmly replied, “I have a life . . . with your child.”
This article originally appeared on Page Six.