The Bachelor franchise is a huge hit for ABC, and the current melodrama of Hannah Brown's season of The Bachelorette has been generating all kinds of buzz. The latest news on the Bachelor franchise front, however, has nothing to do with who may be out of the running for The Bachelor 2020 and what Luke Parker will do next. The Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss stands accused of attacking his pregnant wife. Here's what's happening.
Laura Fleiss, wife of The Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss, has claimed that her husband attacked her and "demanded" that she get an abortion when they were at home together in Hawaii. According to Laura Fleiss, the incident was captured on security cameras, and The Blast reports documents reveal she filed an emergency domestic violence restraining order on July 16, citing an incident on July 6.
In legal documents that have been filed, Laura Fleiss accuses Mike of being verbally abusive and "enraged" throughout the course of her pregnancy, which is her second, she says is 10 weeks along, and was unwanted by her husband. She furthermore states that he "forcibly grabbed" her phone from her; was "grabbed," "pinned," and "held" up against a wall; "aggressively" pushed away; and nearly knocked off the running board of his truck with "the swinging door to almost close" on her, after which she was "forcefully shoved."
Laura Fleiss shared photos of injuries and when she was reportedly struck by Mike, as recorded by their securing camera. In her filings, she asks the court to keep her husband 100 yards away from their home, as well as custody of their 4-year-old son, dog, and home.
For his part, Mike Fleiss tells the story differently. According to court documents filed by Fleiss and obtained by The Blast, Fleiss was under the impression that his wife was on birth control and they had agreed not to have a second child, due to his wife's "issues with emotional stability" following the birth of their son. He says that she attacked him and then disappeared with their son after lying about being on birth control.
In his telling of the story, Mike Fleiss wanted to see Laura Fleiss' phone after she reportedly confessed to lying about the birth control via text, "concerned about whether there were other things she was hiding." He then claims that he took the phone when she wouldn't give it to him, and she "immediately attacked him" in response, prompting him to leave the house and enter his car.
Laura Fleiss received a temporary restraining order against Mike Fleiss; he says that he has no idea where his wife and son are and hasn't heard from them since July 9, when he headed to Los Angeles for work.
It's an ugly situation of he-said/she-said, and it may not be resolved for quite a while. Mike Fleiss previously made headlines for a show outside of the Bachelor franchise that had an episode pulled after sexual assault allegations against one of the participants, and for offending Khloe Kardashian with his tweets. Only time will tell if, how, and when the situation between Fleiss and his wife will be resolved.
