Mike Fleiss, creator of “The Bachelor,” is being investigated by the police in Kauai after his pregnant wife Laura Fleiss accused him of attacking her in their Hawaii home on July 4. Recent documents show that he has denied the allegations, and alleges that she is the one who attacked him.
A police report is not currently publicly available since the incident “remains under police investigation,” according to County of Kauai public information officer Kim Tamaoka, who tells Variety that no arrests have been made at present.
Laura Fleiss had alleged in an initial court filing that her husband assaulted her by grabbing her and forcibly pinning her against the wall, according to court documents, having become “enraged” that she became pregnant against his wishes. She alleges that he had often been verbally abusive toward her during their marriage.
The documents also detail accusations from July 5 that Mike Fleiss called her names, such as “low rent gold digger” and “$50,000 whore,” and told her mother that Laura, who was 10 weeks pregnant at the time, would be getting an abortion, which she says she had not committed to. The documents claim that Mike Fleiss filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court on July 10, six days after the alleged incident.
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But in a separate court filing Tuesday, Mike Fleiss counter-alleges that his wife was the one who physically attacked him, and has since disappeared with their four-year-old son, Ben. He says that during an argument on July 6, he took her phone, and she attacked him, “pounding on [him] with her fists, jumping on [his back,] and attacking [him] trying to get the phone back.”
Mike Fleiss’ response includes screenshots of text messages allegedly between him and his wife, in which she says that her “judgment was seriously clouded and [she] was so desperate for a baby after having the miscarriage that [she] lost it and wasn’t thinking clearly.” Fleiss says he is “very concerned about Ben’s safety and Laura’s emotional state.”
Warner Horizon, which produces “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” did not have any further comment beyond a statement Tuesday that it is “aware of these serious allegations, and are looking into them.” Neither ABC, which airs “The Bachelor” franchise, nor Mike Fleiss’ attorneys responded to requests for comment.