'Bachelor' Creator Mike Fleiss' Wife Laura Filing For Divorce Citing Abuse And Injury While She Was Pregnant
The allegations are horrible.
Facebook When two people decide to get married, neither one of them imagines their union ending in divorce even if that's a road they've already been down themselves once or twice. Nobody enters what's supposed to be a state of wedded bliss thinking that the whole mess is going to go south fast. Yet tragically, more often than anyone would like, that's exactly what happens.
The best divorcing couples can hope for is some understanding, kindness and a custody agreement that puts the kids' needs first. Unfortunately for Laura Kaeppler Fleiss, wife of Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss, her divorce has taken a darker path. Laura is alleging not only that her husband was abusive but that he threatened her life when he found out that she was pregnant with their second child. Here's what we know so far. Who is Mike Fleiss' wife?
1. The News
On July 7th the news broke that Bachelor creator and executive producer Mike Fleiss and his wife Laura Kaeppler Fleiss were filing for divorce. But the bad news didn't stop there. On July 16th The Blast managed to get ahold of documents that revealed this wasn't an amicable split: Laura is accusing Mike of attacking her during both of her two pregnancies. It's not the sort of news you want to hear happening to anyone. According to the prenup they signed before they wed in 2014, the couple had already agreed to share custody of their four-year-old son Benjamin. But anything straightforward about this split has gone out of the window with Laura's accusations. What's worse for Mike's case, Laura claims to be in possession of both filmed and photographic evidence to support her claims of abuse at the hands of Mike.
2. Pageant Queen
Laura has always managed to find her way into the spotlight, ever since she was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1988. In 2009, she won her first major pageant and was crowned Miss Kenosha. But she wasn't done winning just yet. In 2010 she earned the title of Miss Southern Wisconsin and went on to win the official Miss Wisconsin crown in 2011. In 2012, she competed for her state and won the title of Miss America. Laura is more than a pretty face. When asked if Miss America should share her political views, she gave a thoughtful answer: “Miss America represents everyone, so I think the message to political candidates is that they represent everyone as well. And so in these economic times, we need to be looking forward to what America needs, and I think Miss America needs to represent all.”
3. How They Met
Laura's life changed in more ways than just one when she took home the title of Miss America. In fact, it was during this competition that she met Mike, the man who would go on to be her husband and now her enemy. Miss America was held at the Planet Hollywood Casino in Las Vegas that year and hosted by Chris Harrison and Brooke Burke. It made a certain amount of sense with Chris hosting that Mike would judge and that's exactly what he did. After that night, the couple was inseparable. That's a far cry from where the couple is now. The judge granted Laura a temporary restraining order against Mike in light of the charges of domestic abuse. Laura is seeking full custody of their son and the family dog. She's also fully gone underground, deleting all of her social media accounts. What a terrifying ordeal this must be for her, and so confusing for young Benjamin.
4. Criminal Experience
Laura's life prior to marrying Mike might sound like a veritable dream come true, and in many respects it was. Not only did she win a crown and the love of a good man (or so she thought) but along with the title of Miss America she also earned a scholarship of $50,000! Not too shabby. But there were darker corners of her life too. While we might think of the midwest as being an innocent and quiet place, crime happens there too. When Laura was a little girl her father was arrested for mail fraud and served well over a year in prison after he was found guilty. Laura turned this into a positive, choosing to volunteer as a mentor to children whose parents are in jail. Sure, this looked good to pageant judges but it also helped Laura feel like she was really making a difference in the lives of children.
5. Their Wedding
When your husband is the guy who invented The Bachelor, your wedding is going to be a little bit (read: a lot) different from your run of the mill traditional affair. When Mike and Laura married in 2014, in Mike's mind, there was no one better to help officiate the entire affair than The Bachelor's own host, Chris Harrison, who also agreed to officiate their nuptials. Taking another page from The Bachelor playbook, Neil Lane, who provides rings for the show, designed both of the wedding bands and Laura's massive five-carat engagement ring. While Chris was present when they said their "I dos" he's being smart and keeping his nose out of the current accusations which are beyond gnarly. Laura says that Mike (who is six foot four and weighs 220 pounds) threatened to push her down the stairs following a fight. The documents say that he: “grabbed my body, forcibly pinned me up against the wall and held me there. 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 towards his pick-up truck parked outside in our driveway, shouting ‘I’m going to punch your face in.'” Not the words of a loving spouse, no matter what the dispute.
6. The Aftermath
Mike and Laura are 24 years apart in age, which still doesn't give him an excuse to get violent if what Laura is saying is correct. The stories she is sharing with the court are brutal and sad, particularly regarding the statements and actions he took and made when he learned of Laura's second pregnancy. “While we were at our house in Kauai, Mike demanded that I get an abortion. Our son Ben was in the house, seated in another room nearby. Mike told me: ‘If you have an abortion, then we can just go back to the way we were. While Mike has frequently been verbally abusive towards me during our marriage, in recent weeks, he has become enraged, due to the fact I am pregnant with our second child. Mike told me many times that he did not want us to have a second child. He also 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. Mike, however, being 55-years old, did not want to have more than one child together," states Laura in the court documents.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. She's an experienced generalist with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, pop culture, and true crime.