'Bachelor' Creator Mike Fleiss' Wife Accuses Him of Violence, ‘Demand’ for Abortion in Restraining Order Docs
Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss, the wife ofBachelor creator Michael Fleiss, has been granted a temporary restraining order against her husband, ET has learned.
The order, which will remain in effect until a hearing date set for Aug. 6, includes the couple's son, Benjamin, under the auspices of its protections. Michael has been ordered to remain at least 100 yards away and he must move out of their home.
Additionally, legal and physical custody of their son has been granted to Laura, with no visitation permissions granted to Michael.
According to court documents obtained by ET, Laura alleges that her husband "has frequently been verbally abusive" toward her during the course of their marriage, and claims that "in recent weeks, he has become enraged, due to the fact I am pregnant with our second child."
Laura, 31, a beauty pageant star, married Michael, 55, in 2014. He had previously been a judge during the 2012 Miss America contest, which Laura won. They welcomed their son in May 2015.
Michael filed for divorce on July 9, citing "irreconcilable differences."
According to the documents Laura submitted to the court, she and her estranged husband had long had a difference of opinion over how many children they wanted to have together.
"[He] repeatedly told me throughout our marriage, and prior to our marriage, that he knew he would have to have one child with me because I was 26 years old when we got married, did not yet have any children, and he knew I wanted to have a family," Laura claims. "Mike, however, being 55 years old, did not want to have more than one child together."
Laura further alleges that Michael demanded she have an abortion after she discovered she was pregnant again.
"Mike told me, 'If you have an abortion, then we can just go back to the way we were.' Prior to July 4th, Mike threatened me that if I did not have an abortion, he would end the marriage," Laura alleges in the documents. "This was not the first time he had threatened a divorce during our marriage, but now, he was using this threat as leverage to force me to have an abortion."
Laura claims that, on July 6, she and her son were at the family's home in Kauai, Hawaii, and that she was caring for Ben, who was sick with "a bad cold." According to Laura, her husband "angrily entered Ben’s bedroom looking for my cellphone." She alleges that Michael took her phone "forcibly" from her hands, which she said made her fear for her safety and the safety of her son.
"I immediately became concerned and frightened that Mike would leave the property with my cellphone, stranding me there without it and no access to Ben’s physicians if needed given his bad cold and cough, or any way to contact law enforcement if Mike became violent, as his threats indicated he might," Laura alleged.
She claims that as she followed after him in an attempt to retrieve her cellphone, Michael "rushed to the top of stairs" and then "yelled that he was going to 'shove me down the stairs.'"
Laura goes on to allege that, as her husband attempted to leave the property, she followed him "begging him that I needed my cellphone back."
"Just before we got outside of the front door, he grabbed my body, forcibly pinned me up against the wall and held me there," Laura alleges. "After I broke free, he continued to use his arms and hands to aggressively push me away from him as he walked outside the door, still not returning my phone. Then he walked toward the pickup truck parked outside in our driveway shouting 'I’m going to punch your face in.'"
Following the alleged incident, Laura says she got in contact with a neighbor, who drove her and Ben to a friend's house, where "I knew I would be safe, and away from Mike, if and when he returned home."
She claims she subsequently had her friend drive her to a police station, where she filed a police report against her husband. At the time, she says she declined to file an Emergency Protective Order because she claims she "was fearful that I would further incite Mike."
Included in the documents she filed were photographs from a security camera outside their Kauai home that she claims shows Michael pushing her. Additionally, she included photographs she took that show bruises on her arms that she alleges are the result of her husband's actions.
ET has reached out to Warner Bros., the distributors of The Bachelor, on which Fleiss serves as executive producer, for comment.
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