'Bachelor' Creator Mike Fleiss And Wife Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss Reconcile After Months Of Drama
Well this is surprising.
Getty In July the ugly details of the divorce between Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss and his ex-beauty queen wife, Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss were revealed. The 55-year-old producer allegedly abused his pregnant wife — and she has the video to prove it. Now, more details have come out and it seems this incident was not the first one in which Fleiss verbally and physically threatened and assaulted his wife. The divorce petition Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss filed reveals pretty harrowing stuff — such as the fact he allegedly often told her she was "lazy and incapable" and would end up "fat and single in Kenosha, Wisconsin."
She outlined an instance of abuse from April 2018 when she and Fleiss went to Nobu restaurant in Malibu and she saw text messages between her husband and another woman. She said: “While I was using Mike’s cellphone, I saw some flirtatious text messages between Mike and a female friend. I handed him his phone back with those text messages open on his phone, so he knew I had seen them, Mike went ballistic. He screamed and cursed at me the entire ride home while we were in the Uber. When we got home, he continued to criticize me and call me names both that night and the next day, all in the presence of my mother. The day after our dinner at Nobu, he told me that he was calling his attorney to file for divorce and that I needed to ‘go back’ to Wisconsin with my mother — but without Ben [their son]. I was traumatized, both because of the degrading names Mike was calling me, and because of his continuous threats to divorce me and make me go back to Wisconsin. It was also emotionally humiliating that this took place in front of my mother.”
Fleiss is hitting back and alleging that his wife initiated the attack on her and in his response to her filing, filed a declaration including text messages she sent him apologizing for his behavior. Fliess also said that Laura took off with their son Ben and he is afraid for the child's safety.
Whoa. This is getting super-ugly. Laura Fleiss filed an emergency need for a restraining order. Who is Mike Fleiss' ex and what is actually going on here?
Update: Mike Fleiss and Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss have reunited. The divorce has been called off. Love wins, I guess. Read on for all the new details.
1. He alleges she lied to him about being on birth control
Mike Fleiss' attorneys filed a 40-page response to his wife's divorce petition on July 16. In it, he denies the allegations that he attacked his wife on July 4th at the home in Kauai. Laura claimed her husband became violent with her after he demanded she get an abortion. He claims that they had agreed not to have another child. Fleiss found out his wife was pregnant again on Father's Day. Later he learned that she had been lying to him and was never on birth control. He included text messages from his wife in which she admitted her dishonesty. One of these alleged texts from Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss said: “Mike, I love you so much. I love you more than I’ve ever loved you. You’ve shown me true, unconditional love, forgiveness and compassion like I’ve never known...I will make this up to you for the rest of my life...the second chance you are giving me is the greatest form of love. From the bottom of my broken, twisted heart, thank you.”
Fleiss said that his wife was on Lexapro to help with her "emotional issues." He claimed she stopped taking the antidepressant in December 2018 as part of her plan to get pregnant.
2. He said she attacked him
Mike Fleiss claims that his wife attacked him on July 6th after he confronted her and asked her if she was seeing another man and asked her if the baby she was pregnant with was even his. Fleiss took his wife's phone away from her. In the affidavit, he stated: “The entire time I was running out of the house and to the car, she was pounding on me with her fists, jumping on my back, and attacking me trying to get the phone back,” he wrote in the affidavit. “I kept telling her to get away from me. As I ran down the narrow staircase of the house, she was pounding on me so hard the side of my head was slammed against the wall. Once I stepped outside the house, she continued to follow me, screaming and attacking me. I had my arms up to protect myself. Once I got to my truck and got in, she continued to pursue me and actually climbed in the driver’s side of the truck continuing to attack me and try and pull her phone out of the truck. I did not want this aggressive encounter to continue any longer and did not want her to hurt herself and the baby. Eventually, she jumped back out of the truck and I was able to drive away.”
Fleiss claims that his wife texted him on July 8th, saying: “I’m ready to talk when you are. Thank you for giving me a little space. Please let me know when you’re back in LA safely and let’s talk. I love you so much, Mike.”
3. She said he threatened to destroy her
In Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss' filing she alleged that Mike said: "I am cutting you off financially Monday morning;" "You are paying for everything with your money;" "Next time I see you, I don’t want to see your stomach;" and "You have a choice, you can choose. Have an abortion or go back to Wisconsin, but you are not taking Ben." She said that the abuse continued the next day and he was even more angry than he had been on the 4th of July. She said: "He continued to berate me. He called me names, including low-rent gold-digger, $50,000 whore..." Laura said that her husband told her he would make sure that she never saw Ben or her family again, including her mother.
4. She wants custody of their son
Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss seeks full custody of their son Ben and their dog Nina. She wants the house in Kauai and she wants her husband to pay child and spousal support to her. She is also asking for all of her legal fees relating to the divorce to be paid by him.
5. They've only been married for five years
Fleiss met his soon to be ex-wife in 2012 when he was a judge for the Miss America pageant. Laura Kaeppeler was competing as Miss Wisconsin. She won the title of Miss America that year. Fleiss and Kaeppeler married in 2014 with Bachelor host Chris Harrison officiating.
6. She says he doesn't want to be bothered with his son
Laura Kaeppeler declared that she has been their son Ben's primary caregiver since birth. In her declaration she stated: “I am the parent who gets up with Ben every single time in the middle of the night; Mike sleeps in a different bedroom, or in the cottage, so that he can rest and not be worked at night. I had to arrange childcare for anytime I needed to leave the house, even if Mike was going to be home. Mike usually wakes up and sees Ben in the morning for breakfast, then goes to his cottage to work, does his daily activities then he will join us at the end of the day in the evening around dinner time.”
7. Reconciled in time for the holidays
On Sunday, November 3, Mike Fleiss took to Twitter to announce that he and his pregnant and estranged wife were getting back together. He wrote: “Happy to report that @FleissLaura and I have reconciled. I love my wife and am grateful for this opportunity to work on our marriage. “Thanks for the support, #BachelorNation!”
Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss released her own statement on Twitter later that day. “Over the summer, my husband and I went through a challenging time, as all marriages do. There was an emotionally charged incident in which we fought over a phone and both exhibited immature and irresponsible behavior. This situation led to making rash decisions we both regret." Her full statement is below. She joined Twitter in order to tweet out the news that she and her estranged husband were back together.
Amy Lamare is a Los Angeles based freelance writer covering entertainment, pop culture, beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, and the intersection of technology, business, and philanthropy. She is deeply devoted to her chocolate Labrador and an avid long distance runner. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.