Biographie
Blanca De Garr is an American writer, Christian music producer and child-star best known for her prime-time role of "Patty Foley," the Italian orphan tomboy on NBC's popular 80's television series, "Rags to Riches". Her writing contributions have been submitted to the industry, shared with close friends since her teens. Her own life reads more like a Latin novella than that of an actress in search of stardom.
Blanca is a fourth generation American coming European heritage. Her family made its way from the Inquisition emigrating to Mexico before its becoming part of the United States of America, prior to the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty of 1848. Blanca's colorful heritage and religious affiliation is noted in a predominantly Catholic upbringing with deep Jewish roots. Blanca DeGarr, born in Los Angeles on April 20, 1973, as Blanca Garcia is the eldest of three children born of her parents' union and has a half sibling borne of her mother's remarriage. Her younger brother is a highly functioning adult with autism and lives an independent life working with Goodwill Industries. Her younger sister works in an executive position for the former Prime Minister of Serbia, Milan Panic, in a major pharmaceutical research company southern California. Her youngest sister is majoring in the medical field, an aspiration Blanca had prior to deciding to have a large family. Blanca also has five adult step-siblings by way of her parents' subsequent remarriage.
Blanca's mother, Rose, was the eldest of four children borne of a prominent family whose mother, was a Mexican borne former beauty queen in Guadalajara, Mexico. Blanca's grandfather happened to be in Mexico on business and instantly fell in love with Blanca's grandmother, as she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. The two returned to his home state of Illinois, where her grandmother became a dedicated homemaker in an all-English-Speaking Chicago neighborhood. The pair had two daughters there, then relocated to southern California where Blanca's grandmother, Martha, supported her husband, the late Dr. Paul Guzman, through his studies prior to both becoming business proprietors of two successful optical stores in Plaza Rio Tijuana, Mexico. They also had two sons.
In a classic novella style, Blanca's father, Richard, was the boy her grandparents didn't envision for their daughter. Blanca's father was the youngest child borne of a love affair between his mother, Ernestina Martin, a Nursing Professor and devoutly Republican political activist, who had been unhappily married at that time. Blanca's grandmother kept a photo of her beloved Ronald Reagan at her bedside for many years. It is speculated that Blanca's natural grandfather was a lightweight fighting champion who had met the grandmother at Cottage Hospital where she worked in Santa Barbara. Rather than to draw any negative attention to her children in a time when it was unbecoming to be a single parent, and scandalous to be with child outside of marriage, she gave Blanca's father the same family last name as her two older children and successfully brought up her three children, on her own and without lacking anything through her nursing career.
Blanca's parents were fourteen and sixteen years old when they eloped. Due to bias against her father, her parents kept their marriage a secret. However, when it became evident that Blanca's mother was nearly 6 months along in her pregnancy with Blanca, they decided to minimize the shock by reassuring their parents they were already married. Her beloved grandfather, Dr. Paul Guzman took up golf and began to drink upon becoming a grandfather before he was adequately ready. He attributed all his gray hair to his beloved little "Granny". That is how Blanca acquired that unusual nickname. Her parents had a second wedding, and official marriage, after both turned eighteen. Her grandparents attended, albeit, somewhat stoically.
At DeGarr's age of four it was evident to her family and friends that she had "star"potential, as she was very bright, used a rich vocabulary and enjoyed imitating characters from television shows and commercials. She resembled the character "Pebbles" from the "Flintstones" which is how she became affectionately known by that particular nickname. Even before Blanca had an agent, she was working as a model and her face graced the local newspapers without the promotion or prompting from her parents. It was always a matter of being in the right place in God's time. However, Blanca did have a hurdle to overcome: she was a painfully shy child and preferred the company of adults to children. Her acting experience began at the Coronado Theater for Children in San Diego, California as her mother had been taking Child Development and Psychology classes, thought it would be a good way to help her daughter come out of her shell. At the time Blanca was also was active in dance lessons and was noted to have a natural singing talent. Blanca was cast in her local theater company to portray a role of an orphan in a production of "Annie." While Blanca was acting as the understudy for "Annie" for one day, a powerful children's talent agent in San Diego, Janice Patterson, was present at that performance of this production and, impressed with Blanca's performance and stage presence, invited her parents to sign a contract for their daughter with the agency.
Blanca immediately landed her debut television job doing a commercial with a comedian and actor whom she greatly admired, the late John Ritter who boosted her ego by telling her "you're more than a pretty face" he was seen encouraging DeGarr and told her "you have talent." Blanca also worked as a model. She did radio work as well, one particular broadcast was co-hosting a radio program for "Sunshine Clubhouse" Christian Radio program produced by Pat Bradley on KSON with "Extra's" Mario Lopez, when the two were 6th graders enduring being bullied at Kellogg Elementary School for the Performing Arts where they both attended together in Chula Vista. Blanca continued to perform in theater. In 1985, Blanca's agent informed her family there was an open casting call for Jr. Star Search. Blanca's parents did not feel she was ready for auditioning for such a competitive show. Blanca insisted they take her to the audition and, after a number of callbacks, her persistence paid off and she was selected to compete on the show. She ultimately won the competition and attained the awarded title of "Grand Champion Leading Lady" on television's 1985 show "Junior Star Search".
After this big break, she set her sights on being represented by a major youth theatrical agency in Hollywood, California. Iris Burton represented Kirk Cameron, Corey Feldman,River Phoenix, and her childhood friend Rain Phoenix, siblings Joaquin Phoenix,Summer Phoenix,and Liberty Phoenix and had a reputation for being the most unattainable agent. Iris Burton wasn't an easy agent to impress and Blanca was actually not initially signed on, until after the agent saw the television broadcast of Jr. Star Search. When Blanca's parents contacted Iris a week after the airing of Jr. Star Search, they were pleased Iris Burton invited the family to her home in Los Angeles to sign Blanca on and represent her. Iris Burton noted Blanca's hazel eyes and unique look, suggesting to Blanca's family to change Blanca's name to give her an edge in the competitive entertainment industry and not be limited by any bias against an ethnic sounding name.
Six months later, DeGarr was cast in April 1986 as "Patty Foley" in the pilot, "Foley and the Girls from St. Mags" which would later become, "Rags to Riches" before airing and for the ensuing series. She was thrilled to be able to use her singing and dancing talents in the television series' two-hour pilot. To enhance her singing abilities, she began taking singing lessons as she went on to portray her character in the ensuing television series, "Rags to Riches", a one-hour musical drama picked up by NBC. The program was created and written by Broadway producer 'Bernie Kukoff' and produced by Leonard Hill Productions, Leonard Hill later becoming a mentor to DeGarr. Her co-stars on "Rags to Riches" included Joseph Bologna from "Blame it On Rio", Tisha Campbell of "Martin" and "My Wife and Kids", Heidi Zeigler "Drexell's Class", Heather McAdam from "Sisters", Bridget Michelle from "FTV" and Kimiko Gelman of the "Hunger Games" and the opportunity to learn from the numerous talented celebrity guests on their show such as Bill Maher of "Politically Incorrect", Dick Van Patten from "Eight is Enough", Richard Grieco from "21 Jumpstreet", Shannon Tweed the "Playboy" centerfold, Danny Bonaduce of "The Partridge Family",Ken Osmond who portrayed "Eddie Haskall" in the classic television show "Leave It to Beaver" and many more.
"Rags to Riches" was canceled in 1988 despite having a large fan base. Ratings had been very high, and the pilot had topped the ratings at #1. As the series progressed, the show's strength in ratings instigated NBC to change its time slot to a competitive Sunday evening. While ratings did decline as a result, the show remained strong in the top 20. There is speculation that the show was canceled primarily due to its high production costs.
Soon after it's cancellation, DeGarr was cast as another orphan,"Marilyn Monroe", on the popular television series "Sonny Spoon" with Mario Van Peebles then Blanca decided to pursue a private life, hoping to attain normalcy and a quality marriage, focusing on raising a family which was very important to her since early childhood and dedicating her energy on writing screenplay submissions.
However, upon Blanca's 18th birthday, DeGarr received the shocking reality that she owed $80,000 to the Internal Revenue Service for back taxes she owed due to mismanagement and errors on the filling of her tax returns by those who prepared her tax returns. She had to go before the Tax Court as a pro per litigant in California and plead her case. DeGarr was exonerated by the IRS Tax Court and received a refund. This prompted her to think about a career in entertainment law, business law or tax law, but she fell in love and became engaged to marry a much older man, a college professor and aeronautical engineer, with five adult children of his own. She abruptly called off the engagement with him when he would not agree to giving her any children of her own. At some point thereafter, Blanca DeGarr's name was placed onto the STARDUST spacecraft as a public outreach effort by NASA which allowed people to be personally involved with the STARDUST Mission and helps to promote public interest, awareness and support of the space program. It also provided a way to honor individuals by enabling them to be associated with mankind's most advanced technological endeavor and to be part of the quest of the human species to reach for the stars. One microchip contained 136,000 inscribed names the width of a hair and the second microchip contained 1,000,000 inscribed names also a hair's width which were then placed onto the spacecraft on its voyage beginning February 7, (1999), scheduled to rendezvous with Comet Wild in (2004) before returning to earth in (2006). It is speculated her name was anonymously submitted by her former aeronautical engineer fiancé. Plans by NASA were to place the returned microchips in a major museum, most likely the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Blanca grades suffered during her parents' own divorce, however, always being a brilliant self-learner, she began to refocus on her studies when her parents became civil to each other. After having a successful academic term at the California State University San Bernardino business school, Blanca decided to take a job offer at a south Florida Computer Technology Company where she was personally invited by the CEO to apprentice. Figuring the technology experience would be a boon to her education, the offer was also timely, as Blanca had personally financed a large loan to loved ones, and she did not have enough funds to complete college in California. Six months later, the two were married New Year's Eve (1992) in San Diego, California after a brief courtship. Five children were borne from that marriage: Lydia Jeanette on 8-27-96, Clarisse Emmanuelle on 6-13-98, Robert Dana, Jr. on 9-18-99, Paul Harrison on 2-17-01 and Felicity Rose Tzedaka on 7-23-02. Though DeGarr kept her family her priority, the marriage itself was ill-fated and, after numerous incidents of that spouse's infidelity, his pornography addiction and discovery of his hidden surveillance camera in a smoke detector of the marital home's bathroom and evidence of nude video-recording of underage teenage female visitors undressing and showering in the marital home [video-recording evidence reviewed by the General Master, Melinda K. Brown], Blanca was humiliated, and shamed into silence by domestic violence, enduring mental cruelty and racial slurs against Hispanic people by her then-husband.
In the three year interim where Degarr was amid divorce litigation and self-representing as pro Se petitioner in the Florida family Judicial Circuit Court as she could not afford the astronomical attorney fees to continue litigating for her divorce from an embittered spouse who had control issues and would not easily let Blanca go. In a much-too-familiar marital dissolution scenario that most women can identify with, Blanca was not receiving the court ordered child and spousal support. However, in the third year of divorce proceeding, some infrequent checks began to trickle in from her then-husband. Though it was not in the vicinity of the nearly $7,600 per month as had been ordered, it was what her ex claimed he was able to pay, as his focus was to squelch as much of his lofty $250K per year income as possible to minimize the amount of money he would have to pay to his future ex wife to help her support their five children closely made together.
Blanca had to focus her entrepreneurial spirit to take care of her children. Being fastidious and detail oriented, she opened a cleaning business for immediate revenue. Since she had an excellent reputation for hosting business parties during her marriage and preparing all the delicious catering for the events herself, that ability brought a job offer of being a Private Chef and Stewardess. In 2006, she worked aboard the "YOLO", the private yacht of Captain David F. Johnston in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, prior to the opening of the Las Olas restaurant, YOLO. Though he was not considered a mentor, her employer did give her business advice during that opportunity. Simultaneously, she interviewed for a scriptwriting position for a local television company and landed the job. Blanca was delighted. However, when she crunched the numbers, she realized she would have to hire a qualified nanny to care for her then-five elementary school-age children, as dating or marrying a nanny to be at home with her children was not an option for Blanca. After careful consideration and realizing the demands of the position required her to be at the office before her children would arise for their school days, she would have to hire a full-time nanny as she would not be able to return until well after they would have to be tucked into bed. Blanca contacted the president of the television company, Douglas Scott, to thank him for believing in her and to politely decline the incredible job with the reason being "to take care of my family". She reconciled with the fact that her time at home with her children was exponentially more important. Blanca did freelance writing work, proofreading and also edited books of other authors. One of the executives at the television company, Lisa Vrancken, became a dear friend to Blanca and hired her to edit her own book based on the travels of a young woman into the impoverished orphanage of Balagurukulam in India. Blanca also accepted a job as a lead teacher at an enrichment school and made arrangements with the director of the school so that she was able to bring all five of her children to attend classes and participate in the power point presentations she taught to our future leaders.
The years of stress from her nefarious former spouse and a lack of financial support for her put a tremendous burden upon her and compromised Blanca's health. Blanca had panic attacks and digestion problems, but still faithfully and lovingly prepared her young children each day for their school-day. After a terrifying experience with pneumonia, Blanca realized at that point, that she was human and could, indeed, die. Blanca prayed, earnestly, as the tears flowed from her aching eyes, for the one thing she realized she needed to ask God for, the last thing she ever wanted again: a husband. Blanca was very specific to ask God for a good, Godly husband whom she could trust. God heard Blanca's heartfelt prayer and, within two weeks of her divorce finalization, she began to date her best friend, Michael Anthony Masci and the two realized immediately their union was a blessing. On their first date, Masci's car would not start after bringing Blanca back home. The battery died in her driveway. The two have been joyfully together since.
In June of 2008, after three years of contentious litigation, the excitement of being freed from a hellish marriage was so overwhelmingly exciting, Blanca could hardly wait another moment. When the parties were addressing the outstanding child support and alimony in excess of $100,000 owed to Blanca was the obstacle keeping her ex from signing the agreed final judgment, in one fell swoop, the $100K of back-alimony and child support her spouse-at-the-time owed to Blanca, was wiped away in an Agreed Final Judgment, just so Blanca could have closure to that disastrous marriage and she and her children could move on. Her spouse-at-the-time also had to audacity to request of the Family Court Judge, that his non-income-earning spouse, Blanca, be ordered to owe half of his substantial $100K debt to the Internal Revenue Service. Thankfully, that was not a matter within the jurisdiction of the Family Court. After three years of litigation, the parties' attorney fees exceeding $180,000, Blanca forgiving the $100K alimony and child support debt her ex should have paid to her, the marriage finally ended in (2008). Blanca received custody of the parties' five children and very minimal child support, but tremendous peace of mind and had planned to never marry again. Blanca later litigated the 50% portion of tax matter directly with the Internal Revenue Service who absolved Blanca of owing any tax, as Blanca was clearly the injured spouse and did not owe any tax.
Within days of divorce finalization, DeGarr received a letter from her former mother-in-law, Mrs. Joan Barbara Rizzi. Apparently, Mrs. Rizzi had incurable stage IV liver cancer and expressed that her son, the man Blanca had been married to, had kept her grandchildren apart from her. She wrote, "...my son, Robert, borrowed $30,000 from me, then he told me, "Take it out of my inheritance, you're going to die anyway." It was reported those were the last words he said to his own mother. Blanca's former mother-in-law asked if she could resume seeing her grandchildren. Blanca welcomed having family of her children. In a most unusual dynamic of Blanca's favorite Bible verse: Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose," DeGarr became her former mother-in-law's caregiver and friend. As Blanca and her new relationship with Michael Masci was obviously permanent, Mrs. Rizzi's life prognosis of only two months, was divinely extended for a full year and she was able to enjoy attending church with Blanca, Michael and all of her grandchildren until she could no longer walk to attend services with them. Mrs. Rizzi gave her blessing upon Blanca's imminent marriage to Michael.
Blanca married the love of her life and best friend, Michael Masci, a handsome music industry colleague with whom she co-produced music and had much in common. Masci, began his entertainment career at a shy sixteen year-old but rapidly became aware of being a true triple-threat-talent. Masci is a music industry executive, with over thirty years of entertainment experience, owns the premier entertainment agency in south Florida. Michael Masci, being a brilliant jazz pianist with a natural ear for the standards, rapidly became a favorite performer of the late Frank Sinatra. His celebrity impressions and effortless comedic ability has brought his family success and a lifestyle of international travel. Blanca's husband is also from a good, tight-knit locally renowned entertainment family. His parents, Nello and Peggy, were both performers in Atlantic City, touring nationally before moving their family, including Michael's younger sister Michelle, to the Bible Belt of America in Branson, Missouri where The Masci Family had "The Jubilee Theater." The Masci Family members produced-and-starred-in their own musicals and shows. Locals were stars like Dolly Parton and Tony Orlando with whom became friends and golf buddies. At that time, Blanca's husband was married and his former wife and their two, small children had to remain in Florida for her job as a court reporter. The strain placed upon family members of those whom are in the entertainment business is often too much to bear for those not in the same business. Masci's former wife later married a lawyer.
Like Blanca, Michael is also a member of the clergy. Blanca and her husband both officiate traditional weddings. The two, indeed, have much in common. In an unusual prayer, Blanca had asked God to make sure she knew her future mother-in-law. And, like Divine Providence, she and her husband met by way of Michael's Mother, then-artist,later-pastor Margaret Rhoads Masci in (2001). Blanca and her husband's mother met at the Boca Museum of Art where the two formulated a good friendship as sculptors. Blanca happened to sing a few songs while the women were working on their sculptures and Masci's mother gave Blanca her music industry son's number, so the two could work together to record Blanca's original music. That was the beginning of a healthy business relationship, a 7-year-platonic friendship which paved the way for their good marriage in (2009).
Remarkably, Masci also had helped in the elder care of Blanca's former mother-in-law during stage IV cancer. Blanca's former mother-in-law was grateful to have the friendship with her former daughter-in-law and being able to participate with the new family of her grandchildren. Mrs. Joan Barbara Norman Rizzi died on July 11, 2009 in Tennessee while residing in hospice, near her younger son, David Brian Rizzi, and his family. Mrs. Rizzi was not able to see Blanca and Michael marry, but in the final painting she made, depicting the sunset, boats, marina and the shore was given to the couple as a wedding gift.
On June 7, 2009, almost a year after her divorce from her abusive former spouse, DeGarr and her beloved husband Michael Masci held their wedding aboard the 'Riverboat Angela Louise' in Newport Beach, California while the children were off from school and could celebrate with their family in California. All of DeGarr's children and family were in attendance. In a divinely arranged gathering, Blanca's father, Merchant Marine, Captain and The Reverend Rick M. Garcia, joyfully walked his daughter, Blanca, down the aisle of his wedding charter business to officiate her wedding to Michael Masci. DeGarr and her husband are raising their family in Florida. The couple's son, Richard Michael Immanuel Masci, was born on 9-1-9, just a few months after their nuptials. The marriage was delayed awaiting his divorce finalization from his first wife. Masci had been separated for more than five years, as there was resistance from his former spouse to cooperate with his requests to agree to divorce. Blanca encouraged Michael to be generous to his former wife, and allow for her to continue to reside in the marital home he purchased and where her stepchildren had grown up.
Blanca and husband Michael Masci enjoyed several happy years in south Florida when a tremendous opportunity came knocking for him in 2012. Blanca's husband had received numerous requests to relocate to Hollywood, California by his manager's insistence where he was contracted to work producing music for feature films. As the family was required to relocate to California, Blanca went before the Florida Family Judicial Circuit Court, where she had been representing pro Se since (2007), to petition the Court in a motion she wrote titled, "Supplemental Permission to Relocate to California with Minor Children" who had always been in her residential care and had a good relationship with their stepfather. However, after a falling-out with that manager, Michael fired his manager. The pair prayed together about the contracts and work he still had out west. Both knew it was not safe for Blanca to be without her husband in Florida, caring for their now-six children at home while Blanca's husband would be traveling abroad without the benefit of grandparents to offer a helping hand for a mother alone with six children.
Blanca and Michael knew God was calling them to move to California, placing their trust in God to manage the matter. The Florida family Court denied Blanca's request and her children were displaced from her loving home to remain in Florida with their natural father and his second wife, the buxom Brazilian borne former nanny of the parties' children. Upon arriving at their father's house, it was disclosed to various family members and friends directly from the Blanca's children that her ex had confiscated their teenage daughters' cellphones and their personal effects were disposed of, so that there was no way for Blanca's children to reach their mother without her ex's assistance; any semblance of normalcy or anything tangible and reminiscent of the life they had known while in their mother's loving home, was banished from their father's home. As Blanca had been representing herself as pro Se, the opposing counselor took advantage of her residing out of state and not able to file paperwork at the local courthouse. The matter of a parenting plan was delayed by the opposing counselor, so a hearing on the matter didn't occur until 11 months later. The children's family's response about why the children could not move to California: "The outcome would have been more favorable for the kids were the children's father to not withhold permission for them to move with their mother and be near their own family members."
During the time Blanca was in California, she and her husband traveled for his entertainment work in Hawaii with their son and were comforted by DeGarr's maternal and paternal family while Masci worked several months at a time on his entertainment contracts in Europe. The interim where DeGarr awaited the court hearing to receive a visitation plan for the children's summer vacations, was very difficult for her. Rather than to ebb into a depression over situation out of her control, Blanca became very involved in several ministries at Saddleback Church Lake Forest Campus, and served as a volunteer for the Technical Arts and Videobroadcasting Team, as well as, serving for Pastoral Research in The Office of the Pastor for 'Rick Warren', the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and most influential churches. Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller "The Purpose Driven Life." His book, "The Purpose Driven Church," was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also the founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for pastors. Blanca's faith in God, earnest relationship with Jesus and support of church family truly helped Blanca through the difficulty she had while her ex refused to facilitate loving contact her five children residing 3,000 miles away from their mother and completely under their father's control in Florida.
Despite the heartbreaking outcome of divorce litigation and custody matters, Blanca is one of the atypical, non-residential parents who chooses to look at the bright side of things and is diligent about paying to support her five children while they are now being taken care of by their father and parties' children's former nanny. Although heartbreaking for a mother, Blanca is comforted by the fact that, she had the tremendous joy of providing a loving, nurturing, stable and joy-filled childhood for sixteen years. In the irony of the alienation matter from their once beloved mother, Blanca, at least Blanca's five children are making memories of their own with their father and he is having an opportunity to become the devoted father the children indeed deserve to have. Blanca has made effort on numerous occasions to give her children gifts and letters which they have not acknowledged since being in their father's household. Blanca has sent gifts as peace offerings to the former nanny, as Blanca compassionately knows how it feels to be an unpaid caregiver as a wife. Upon receiving peace offerings, Blanca's ex spouse ferreted his paid counselor to draft castigating letters to dissuade Blanca's gestures of kindness and good will, stating, "If you do not stop sending gifts to my client's wife, I will bring this matter before the Court." Blanca's once-happy, appreciative children from her first marriage had been known to give thankfulness to God for any small nicety, have never been encouraged to contact their mother to express any loving feelings toward her nor their gratitude for any blessings bestowed upon them by the Almighty.
When the Court was giving it's oral ruling about the Proposed Parenting Plan (PPP) on June 5, 2013, the Judge did not to allow Blanca's children to come to California to visit with their mother for any portion of the children's summer vacation. The Florida court made no provision for the children to see extended members of their own family who were in poor health and could not fly to Florida to see Blanca's older children. However, the court ruled Blanca could see her children "liberally, anytime she was in the state of Florida..." and that it was incumbent upon the Father to make every effort to "accommodate Blanca's schedule whenever she was in Florida." Within two weeks, Blanca returned to Florida to personally tell her children she was moving back to Florida as soon as their stepfather returned from overseas. Blanca, her husband and their son moved back within two days of his reentry into the United States, September 26, 2013. Blanca's ex husband did not bring all five of their children to participate in regular visitation. Blanca's beloved grandfather, Dr. Paul Guzman, died shortly afterward. She was grateful to God for His divine timing in allowing her to at least have those 14 months in California to be with members of her maternal and paternal family. She had been able to give her children good relationships with all their relatives and having access on a daily basis with them during that time in California. Blanca had been away from that intimate opportunity since she first married and moved out-of-state to Florida at the tender age of 19.
Upon Blanca's return to Florida in September of (2013), only 14 months after her initial move to California, she diligently documented all her efforts requesting to have visitation with her five older children each weekend and all days off from school. On February 17th, 2014, her son Paul's 13th birthday, Blanca paid $3,000 to retain a Florida Family Law attorney to prepare a motion to go before the court and remedy this family law nightmare. The Court did not seem impressed nor satisfied with seeing Blanca personally appear in Court with retained legal counsel for a motion to find her ex in contempt of July 16th 2013 order - and promptly, the Court dismissed Blanca's motion to find her ex in contempt of the existing order which gave Blanca liberal visitation "anytime she was in the state of Florida" at the next hearing. The Court stated that "the order of July 16th, 2013 [from the June 5th 2013 4-hour-telephonic hearing] was not my [Judge Arthur M. Birken's] best work." Then, the Court did not put at least a temporary visitation order in place for Blanca's children to see their mother - or to revert to the original order where the Mother had Residential Custody of the parties children. The Court chose to not uphold an order it issued, so it could not find the father in contempt.
Since that April 2014 hearing, Blanca's ex has since chosen to not encourage Blanca's children to have any loving contact with their Mother, as it is obvious the Father suffers no consequence for not abiding by the moral code of parenthood, even if there is no court order which can be upheld. The second wife, who entered the family as the former nanny and has not produced any children of her own in marriage, has interfered with the natural relationship between Blanca and Blanca's own children. The relationships become muddled when third parties abuse their inherited position over defenseless children. The stepmother has forbidden Blanca's own children - who are residing under the roof she shares with Blanca's former spouse and Father to the parties' children- from referring to their own Mother as 'Mom'. Surely, alienation and interference from third parties is not the intended outcome of this case when asked of the Chief Judge at the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in and For Broward County, Florida, nor any credible child psychologist, Guardian ad Litem or child advocate. The issue of alienation has been since July 5, 2012, precipitated by Blanca's family seeking to relocate with the minor children. [*All documents are public record in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in and For Broward County, Florida in case no. 05-007158(35), Rizzi v. Rizzi.]
Blanca and her husband Michael Masci are awaiting a just ruling on the matter of alienation, optimistically and relying on their strong faith in God to remedy situations out of one's control. To cope with the emotional heartache, Blanca has written the screenplay "Fools with Money" and her work in progress, "Parables of Elisheva" which is about a young, compassionate, Jewish girl who intimately relates to God and reveals to readers lessons through the malicious-and-irrational persecution by her adversaries.
In 2014, Blanca became the Executive Vice President of Michael Masci Entertainment, her husband's music and entertainment business in south Florida and accompanies her virtuoso jazz-pianist husband and his band, "Nightlife" on his worldwide tours. His international fan base is in more than 100 countries and he ranks #3 in Florida's Top Performers on Reverbnation. Blanca occasionally sings with his band at local venues and country clubs, but her work behind-the-scenes in management is both a demanding and rewarding occupation. Blanca is responsible for managing her husband's entertainment career. Her husband's is responsible for generating more than $250K in revenue for music industry professionals, annually, through Michael Masci Entertainment, Inc. Blanca donates her time working with various charitable causes and often includes her family. She dedicates her free time to providing elder care and enjoys furthering her Biblical studies. As part of the family's mission to be servant leaders, Blanca and her husband regularly engage with their community in voluntary service via local outreach programs, aiding victims of domestic violence, helping the homeless by providing clothing and care packages with their teenage children. They also provide refuge and mentoring for at-risk teens, assisting the elderly, raising awareness for Autism and recruiting volunteers via Autismspeaks.org and participating in rallying support for children in poverty by encouraging people to donate to Rednoseday.org. These efforts to help are motivated by the compassionate personal experience of being a "wounded healer" making Blanca easy to relate to. Blanca's brother is a highly functioning adult with autism. Blanca has a son, Robert, with autism. Many of Blanca's friends have children with autism, as well her husband's nephew has autism. As 1 in 68 children have this disorder, they annually participate in Walks for Autism in various cities and raise funds and awareness for Autism Speaks. Blanca and her husband produced a Christmas music CD "Sounds of the Season" in (2010) featuring all eight of their children and have produced a number of independent films, most notably, "The Autism Family Project" (2010).
Interest in Blanca's television work has resurfaced, as it is evident that she attended a "Rags to Riches" reunion event with the show's creator and Broadway producer, Bernie Kukoff and former co-stars. Recent photographs of DeGarr have been shared via social media from this event. Recent information about Blanca's work and history have occurred with the airing of television's Glee (2009), as some fans are now likening the show to "Rags to Riches" due to shared commonalities in genre. Photographs have been shared on social media from tours and entertainment charity events performed with her husband's band, Nightlife.
