Viewers of The Real Housewives of Orange County have already seen Gina Kirschenheiter break down over her ex’s abuse.
Now, she’s facing off with Matt in court. He’s demanding that the judge lower his child support payments and to let him question Gina about his own arrest.
Matt Kirschenheiter is taking his ex to court.
He wants to grill her about all of her finances.
That means her hefty Bravo paychecks for The Real Housewives of Orange County and any other sources of income.
What’s more, The Blast reports that he wants to ask her about the allegations of domestic violence that led to his arrest last June.
Gina has full physical custody of the children, and Matt only has visitation.
It’s famously common for dads in Matt’s situation to gripe and groan about child support payments.
Matt claims that he lost his job over his domestic violence arrest (which is great news to everyone but him), and wants to make that Gina’s problem.
In fact, he apparently has the audacity to suggest that he shouldn’t pay Gina anything … and that she should be paying him.
Gina’s response in court was that she is more than happy to answer most of Matt’s questions.
"Petitioner will agree to be deposed as to any non-domestic violence issues which are presently pending," her formal response reads.
Not only would it be inappropriate for Matt to get to question Gina on that topic outside of criminal court, it should never happen.
Gina is unwilling to discuss that in any detail until after the criminal case is resolved. Until then, her finances are an open book.
In June, Matt was arrested and charged with domestic violence and false imprisonment.
According to reports, he banged on the door late at night and was furious that Gina had been sleeping.
He allegedly struck and pushed Gina while threatening her life. When she tried to run, he is said to have dragged her back into the house.
Throughout the entire alleged attack, their children slept elsewhere in the same house. Every part of that is bone-chillingly awful.
Matt is facing 4 yeras in prison for the domestic violence charge.
The false imprisonment charge could get him another 3 years.
(A maximum of 7 years is not a long time behind bars for something so horrifying, but realistically, he’s likely to serve less time if convicted)
At present, Matt pays $10,000 a month to Gina after the two settled their divorce agreement. He has visitation with the children.
Gina has not delved into great detail about the night that Matt was arrested, for both emotional and legal reasons, but she has shared a little.
"I was really scared,” she has reflected while breaking down.
“I ran out of the house and I rang my neighbor’s doorbell, and I was banging on the door," Gina recalled.
She added at the time: "And [Matt] dragged me back in the house."
Fortunately, Gina has moved on and has a new man in her life.
While her future as a reality star appears to be in question, she is doing her best to put the nightmares from her past behind her.
We find it hard to believe that the court will cancel Matt’s child support payments, let alone force Gina to pay the man who doesn’t have custody.
But sometimes, court cases surprise us all. We’ll keep an eye on this courtroom battle as it develops.
