The Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss and estranged pregnant wife Laura Fleiss have begun battling for custody over their son after exchanging accusations of domestic violence.
On Tuesday, a Los Angeles judge granted a temporary restraining order against Mike after Laura claimed he verbally and physically attacked her at their Hawaii home over the Fourth of July weekend for refusing to get an abortion. He denies the allegations, and says she was the one who attacked him. Police are investigating the incident. No arrests have been made.
The temporary restraining order issued against Mike protects both Laura and the couple's 4-year-old son, Ben, who was present in the same home at the time of the alleged violence. On Wednesday, Laura filed documents asking a judge to grant her full physical and legal custody of the child, and for Mike to pay child and spousal support to her, as well as all of her legal fees for the divorce, The Blast reported.
Mike had filed divorce documents to end his five-year marriage to Laura last week, days after the couple's confrontation and a week before it was made public. In his filing, he requested joint legal and physical custody of Ben, according to multiple reports. But in his response to Laura's temporary restraining order request, he stated, "I don't know where Ben is and I want custody of him because of Laura's instability...I further request that Laura be ordered to immediately return our son Ben to Los Angeles, and for me to have primary custody."
According to The Blast, Mike stated in his original divorce filing that he and Laura have a prenup that will dictate both spousal and child support.
In her temporary restraining order request, filed on Tuesday and obtained by E! News, Laura had stated that Mike had told her many times throughout their relationship that he did not want to have a second child with her, and that in recent weeks, he "became enraged" that she was pregnant. She said that on July 4, Mike told her he was cutting her off financially, that "next time I see you, I don't want to see your stomach," and that "you have a choice, you can choose. Have an abortion or go back to Wisconsin, but you are not taking Ben." She said he demanded she show him bank statements showing she paid for an abortion.
She said that the following day, he continued to berate her, calling her terms like "$50,000 whore," and "f—king c—t," which she said were terms he has allegedly used against her before. She said she tried to go to another room to call her mother. She said Mike "made threats that I would lose access to my family and my family's ability to see Ben" and then forced her to call her mom, after which he allegedly "grabbed the phone" and told her mother that she would not see her daughter until "after August 5—after the abortion."
Laura said that a day later, while she was in the couple's bed with their son, who was suffering from a cold, Mike demanded her cell phone and forcibly grabbed it and left the room. She said she followed him and he allegedly yelled that he was going to shove her down the stairs. She said they made it outside of the front door, where he allegedly, "grabbed my body, forcibly pinned me up against the wall and held me there." She said he then aggressively pushed her away and walked away with her phone towards his truck, shouting, "I'm going to punch your face in." Laura attached what she said was surveillance footage of Mike pushing her outside.
She said that as she was standing on the running board below the driver-side door of the vehicle, Mike allegedly put the truck in reverse and began to back up, telling Laura, 'You're f--ked.' He then allegedly stopped the car, almost causing her to fall off the running board. She said he then shoved her off it and drove away with her phone. She said she screamed for help, attracting the attention of a neighbor, who called the police. She also attached what she said were photographs of arm bruises, a neck scratch and a tear in her dress allegedly caused by "Mike's violent behavior."
"I am afraid of Mike," she wrote. "I am afraid he will continue to act erratically towards me, verbally and physically, and in the presence of Ben. I have been hiding in a hotel for the past several days with Ben, and want to be able to return home without fear for myself, my son and my unborn child."
In his response, also filed on Tuesday and obtained by E! News, Mike stated, "I have not hurt, attacked or attempted to physically harm Laura or our child." He said that during the July 6 incident, "Laura was the aggressor…and physically attacked me. I tried to get away from her as she was chasing and hitting me." He said he has his own security footage of the incident.
He claims that the two had sought help from a marriage counselor earlier this year, and that he did "not want to have another child as Laura had issues with emotional stability and had a difficult time caring for Ben when he was a baby." He said that they had agreed not to have another kid and that she later told him she was on birth control.
"On Father's Day, Laura told me she was eight weeks pregnant," he wrote. "When I questioned her about the birth control, she said birth control is not always effective."
Mike said that while he "started to get excited about the new baby and our life together," he learned "that Laura had been lying to me about having a baby and that she was never on birth control," which he says she admitted and apologized for.
He said that he began to get concerned that she was hiding other information from him and denied repeated requests to let him see her phone.
He said that on July 6, while Ben was asleep in their room, he "told Laura that the only way I could continue in the marriage is if she was honest with me" and asked to see her phone, saying he was concerned she was cheating on him, and that she could be pregnant with another man's baby. He said he "took it out of her hand" when she refused to give it to him.
He said he headed out of the house, during which she allegedly pounded him with her fists and jumped on his back to try to get her phone back, and at one point pounded on him "so hard that the side of my head was slammed against the wall." He said she climbed into his truck "continuing to attack" him and retrieve her phone, and that he slowly started to back out to see if she would leave, after which she allegedly jumped out. He said after he drove away, he had a friend return the phone to Laura.
He said he flew back to their Los Angeles home two days later for work, and that that morning, Laura texted him saying they should talk. He said she texted him again a day later and told him she contacted the police, then ceased contact with him.
"I have no idea where she or Ben are," he wrote. "I am very concerned about Ben's safety and Laura's emotional state."