Gina Kirschenheiter Cries Recalling Ex Matt’s Alleged Domestic Violence Incident
‘It was scary. It was really scary,’ the ‘RHOC’ star says though tears.
Dec. 27 2019, Updated 11:54 a.m. ET
Gina Kirschenheiter broke down in tears when recalling her alleged domestic abuse incident with ex-husband Matt Kirschenheiter during the Real Housewives of Orange County Season 14 reunion.
On Thursday, December 26, Gina, 35, revealed new details about the alleged attack, which she says occurred on June 22, after she and her baby daddy had agreed to reconcile. At the time, they had finished filming RHOC and were working on fixing their marriage despite Matt’s infidelity scandal.
Gina said she and Matt, 35, got into a heated argument in her home after a night of heavy drinking, and her then-husband got so enraged that he allegedly choked her, hit her, dragged her, threw her and threatened to kill her, all while their three kids — daughter Sienna, 5, and sons Nicholas, 7, and Luca, 4 — were asleep in the next room.
Matt was charged with two felonies for the alleged incident. He has denied all allegations and pleaded not guilty. If he is convicted, he faces up to four years in prison for domestic violence and up to three more for false imprisonment.
In a previous episode of RHOC, Gina admitted she had decided to call off her divorce from Matt after allegedly seeing a new and improved side of him following their April 2018 split. Still, things went south as soon as she made their reunion public.
“He just was like a different person,” Gina said of Matt’s alleged attack at the reunion. “I was really scared. I ran out of the house, and I rang my neighbor’s doorbell, and I was banging on the door. And he dragged me back in the house.”
“A lot of the neighbors heard. They all called the police and then the cops came, they arrested him,” she continued, crying. “It was scary. It was really scary.”
Gina was granted a temporary restraining order after the incident, but since then, the exes have managed to finalize their divorce and resolve their issues. Though Gina has moved on with boyfriend Travis Mullen, she and Matt are still co-parenting their kids amicably.
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“There is a part of my heart that feels bad for Matt because he wasn’t really a part of this to begin with and he’s not a monster,” Gina told PEOPLE Now in September. “It’s an emotional time, and people make mistakes. He’s made a lot of them, obviously.”
“There is actually no custody battle, there really is not. Even with things going on with Matt, as they are now, he actually has more custody than he’s ever had because he’s not employed anymore, so he’s around,” she added. “We’re really good on that. I would never keep the kids from him. He’s a really good dad.”
