It was a close call, but this season’s most hated 90 Day Fiance villain was Leida Margaretha.
But no matter her behavior on reality television, it is chilling to hear that she is accusing her husband, Eric, of abuse.
Eric himself has come forward to share his side of events.
In text messages sent to 90 Day Fiance blogger John Yates, Leida tells of a frightening incident with her husband, Eric.
"He pulled my hairs really hard and grab it until I can stand up," Leida accuses in a text message.
"And," Leida’s allegations continue, Eric: "[Grabbed both of my wrists] and put me [in] the corner."
That sounds absolutely unacceptable.
And, as Leida reveals, the situation was worse than she at first makes it sound.
"I don’t wanna live with him anymore," Leida then admits to her friend.
She then shares the chilling context for this alleged fight.
"I was about to kill myself with a knife," Leida explains.
"He grabbed a knife," she writes. "And abused me after that."
"I’m with the police and at the hospital now," Leida concludes.
In other texts that came to light, Leida and Eric appear to dispute some details of the incident.
"I had my scalp scratched from you," Leida accuses. "So yeah you caused me harm physically so stop lying about it."
"How did I scratch your scalp?” Eric asks in response. “My finger nails didn’t even get near your scalp."
"You nor the police never said anything about that," he says.
Obviously, abuse is never acceptable. At the same time, was Eric abusing her or trying to save her life?
Eric has now shared his version of events.
"We had a fight," Eric admits. "I had to wrestle a knife from her."
"As a result of the interaction," he claims. "The Marine came out in me."
That’s a good thing to hear in some circumstances, but a domestic dispute is not one of them.
"I pulled her hair to get her to stand up," Eric explains. "As she wouldn’t let me stand her up to look her in the face."
You are not entitled to make anyone look you in the face at any time for any reason, folks.
His account of events continues.
"I was afriad of her hitting herself in the face again," Eric says.
"She’s done that before," he claims. "And I had to restrain her."
"So," Eric continues. "I restrained her wrists as she was being uncontrollable."
"I didn’t pull hard," he reports. "And she didn’t resist."
He explains that he believes that Leida overreacted to his behavior because it "reminded her of what her dad did."
Childhood trauma can creep into your adult life — and quite frankly, might explain a lot about Leida’s adult behavior.
Leida threatening suicide is worrisome, no matter what we think of her behavior on 90 Day Fiance.
This is a woman who has a lot of issues to work out.
She has a five-year-old son and we are glad that he did not lose his mother in such a gruesome manner.
That said, if Eric was concerned that Leida would harm herself once he had taken away the knife, he should have called the police.
Being family does not entitle you to manhandle a fellow human being.
Leida reported her intention to stay at Hope House, a domestic violence shelter, for the evening.