On Thursday a Bahamas judge cleared Larry Birkhead to leave the country with his daughter, Dannielynn.


According to sources close to Howard K. Stern, who has raised Dannielynn since her birth on Sept. 7, Birkhead will take the infant home to the U.S. on Friday. Stern, the longtime companion of Dannielynn's late mother, Anna Nicole Smith, is "upset and heartbroken" and finds himself facing the reality of being "single and on his own for the first time in many years," a source close to him says.


Still, Stern told Access Hollywood

"I just want Dannie to have a good life, and I'm hopeful that Larry is going to provide that for her, so it's bittersweet. It's hard, but I just want her to be as happy as she can be."

A source tells Reuters that, in exchange for allowing Birkhead to leave the Bahamas with Dannielynn, the court required that he return to the country for another formal custody hearing on June 8. Birkhead has been battling with Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, over custody.