TLC Star Deon Derrico Speaks Out About Ex-Wife Karen’s Arrest, Says She Showed ‘Anger and Hatred’
What To Know
- Deon Derrico spoke out after his ex-wife Karen Derrico was arrested and charged with multiple counts related to domestic violence, harassment, and threats against him and their children.
- Deon expressed concern for their children’s well-being, stating that Karen’s alleged actions and anger have deeply affected the family.
- Karen pleaded not guilty to the charges, and her lawyer claims the allegations are fabricated by Deon.
Deon Derrico is giving his side of the story after his ex-wife, Karen Derrico, with whom he starred on the TLC reality show Doubling Down With the Derricos, was arrested for allegedly threatening him and their children.
“I still love her as a mother of my children. But I do not like her at all. I don’t like what she’s done,” Deon told Us Weekly on Thursday, June 25. “I don’t like how the children are involved, they’re in the middle of it, and I’m forced to defend my position.”
Deon added, “I still have to maintain the presence of mind for my innocent children, ’cause no matter what, they’re innocent. When they’re fighting within, no one wins. No one wins. No matter who looks to have won, no one wins, and that’s the part that’s most disturbing.”
Authorities in Nevada have charged Karen with violation of a temporary order for protection against domestic violence, harassment, preventing or dissuading a witness from testifying or producing evidence with immediate threat or use of physical force, and aggravated stalking constituting domestic violence, per a criminal complaint obtained by People.
“I want you dead,” Karen allegedly wrote in an email to Deon, according to the complaint. “I could kill you and it won’t even bother me to go to jail and I’ll kill any of my kids if they take your side.”
Karen was arraigned on Tuesday, June 23, and she pleaded not guilty.
TMZ reported it had obtained audio of a phone in which one Derrico child tells Karen, “No wonder why you said you were going to kill me.”
Per TMZ, Karen replied, “I said I’ll kill you if you piss me off … because you’re disrespecting me because your little behind is enabled.”
Deon told Us Weekly he told his mother earlier this year to “look at Karen” if anything happened to him.
“That’s the level of anger and hatred I was feeling from her,” he said.
Deon also said he previously filed a temporary protection order against Karen, after which she started emailing him repeatedly. “I just ignored her emails, and then they kept getting more and more aggressive,” he claimed. “And she had already been threatening the children about killing them.”
Karen’s lawyer addressed the allegations in a statement to People. “The charges are total nonsense and fabricated by Mr. Derrico — the supposed ‘victim,’” the lawyer said. “This has everything to do with him being spiteful and malicious and nothing to do with him being frightened or harassed.”
Doubling Down with the Derricos aired between 2020 and 2024, the same year that Deon and Karen announced they were getting divorced.
The former couple’s children are Darian, 20; Derrick, 15; twins Denver and Dallas, 14; quintuplets Deniko, Dariz, Deonee, Daician, and Daiten, 12; Diez and Dior, 9; and triplets Dawsyn, De’Aren, and Dyver, 6.
If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. If you or someone you know is the victim of child abuse, contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453). If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
