Former Larry Birkhead lawyer Debra Opri has done a pretty good job of keeping her mouth shut about her former client. But Birkhead just won't shut up, and Opri tells Radar she's sick of having her reputation dragged through the mud.

It's a Frankenstein-like turn, with the media monster she helped create turning on her publicly. "His continued statements to the press are malicious and they are desperate and possibly out of control," Opri tells Radar. "I continue to believe that a dispute between an attorney and a former client does not belong in the media, and I continue to question the motives of Mr. Birkhead in insisting that it remains in the media."

Her defamation suit centers on what she says are false claims Birkhead made on Larry King Live that Opri was a source for Rita Cosby's book Blonde Ambition (which claims Birkhead and Howard K. Stern were lovers who conspired to make money off of their custody battle). She also accuses Birkhead of leaking information to TMZ to smear her. The site has, for example, posted an itemized rundown of Opri's $620,492.84 bill. It has also quoted extensively from Opri's lawsuit. Although Birkhead-friendly posts have outnumbered Opri-backing ones, TMZ's Harvey Levin tells Radar the site has balanced its coverage as much as possible.

"You don't do stories based on a count, you basically follow the news," Levin says. "I think he's been more aggressive than she has in the last month and a half." Asked about whether he's skeptical of Birkhead's claims, considering the allegations that he's already manipulated media coverage, Levin says, "We're skeptical about everything. There are plenty of things that we don't post—not just with this story but with a lot of stories. You don't want to end up being a tool."

Opri is also suing Birkhead for breach of contract for the $620,492.84 in unpaid legal fees, plus $200,000, which she says she has had to pay to a PR firm to protect her reputation (she's famously handled the custody battle between David Hasselhoff and his ex Pamela Bach but was fired by Bach after she lost the case). Opri has pledged to give proceeds from the Birkhead suit to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

"I am urging Mr. Birkhead to restrain himself and to temper his malicious attacks," Opri tells Radar, adding that more badmouthing will only beef up her damage award.

There was a time when Opri was all for Birkhead's media machinations. Since he didn't have the up-front cash for the paternity battle with Stern—Opri says she told him it would cost $500,000 or more—the two agreed that Birkhead would pay her out of the money he made on media deals. When a million-dollar contract came through, however, Opri says Birkhead stiffed her on her fees and went on to strike deals of his own, cutting her out of a 10 percent share she says he agreed to. Her suit claims Birkhead has made a single $20,000 payment to her. About $600,000 is held up in a legal trust.

"I will have my day in court, and I am completely confident," Opri says. "The spectacle that Mr. Birkhead makes of himself, in his repeated attacks against me in the media, serves only to demonstrate how desperate he has become and how fearful he is that the truth will soon be known. And, I believe the public is finally catching on that he is not the all -American golden boy he pretends to be."