Mike Fleiss has been ordered by a judge to stay away from his estranged wife and son—and his dog. A court order obtained by The Blast reveals that The Bachelorette creator’s wife, Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss, has been given full custody of the family dog, Nina, after asking a Los Angles judge to order her husband to stay 100 yards away from her following a violent fight earlier this month in which she claims he verbally and physically attacked her.
In a request filed in a Los Angeles court last week, Laura asked that Mike stay away from her, the couple’s 4-year-old son, Ben, and the family home in Hanalei, Hawaii. But the former Miss America also filed a request for custody and protection for the family’s Doberman pinscher, Nina. Now, the official order states that the famed TV producer must “not take, sell, transfer, encumber, conceal, molest, attack, strike, or otherwise dispose of the following animals: Nina, brown Doberman pinscher.” The order further states that Laura has been “given the sole possession, care, and control of the animals.”
Mike Fleiss was accused of attacking his pregnant wife during an explosive argument at their home in Hawaii over the Fourth of July holiday in which he allegedly stole Laura’s phone and demanded that she get an abortion. The fight was caught on the home’s security cameras.
The alleged domestic assault raises questions about whether the Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC, which airs “The Bachelor,” and Warner Bros. Television, which produces Mike Fleiss’ lucrative television shows, will stand behind him. https://t.co/vCZ1hB6hWF
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) July 17, 2019
But the creator of The Bachelor franchise says he was simply trying to look at his wife’s phone because he thought she was lying about the paternity of her baby. Mike Fleiss filed separate documents in which he questioned Laura’s “emotional stability,” and he accused her of attacking him, The Blast reports. According to Fleiss’s documents, he claims that he and Laura had agreed not to have a second child due to Laura’s mental issues and that she lied and told him she was on birth control.
Mike Fleiss probably won’t be live-tweeting the upcoming Bachelorette finale, but his domestic problems won’t affect the future of the ABC dating franchise. A source told People that allegations against Fleiss by his estranged wife will have no effect on the rose-filled reality empire that he created. The insider confirmed that while Mike is the creator of the show, he is “not the showrunner.”
“While he is involved in certain aspects of the franchise, he is by no means involved in the day to day… He spends much of his time in Hawaii, and the show runs independently of him.”
The source also confirmed that “there have never been any issues with Mike on The Bachelor ,” and that while Warner Bros. is “concerned and looking into the allegations… it’s business as usual for the show.”