It’s been a little while since we’ve heard from 16 and Pregnant star Nikkole Paulun, right? We updated you on how she’s doing earlier this year, but she hasn’t really been making as much of a splash as some of the other girls.
She’s mostly just been a happy, content mother to two adorable children.
But on Wednesday, she updated Instagram followers on a situation that she’s in now. And it’s no exaggeration to say that she fears for her life.
In case she’s slipped your mind, Nikkole Paulun was once a party girl but she now seems to have settled into being a mother really well, judging by what she shares over social media.
Lyle was born in late 2009 and Ellie was born about two years ago, in July 2015.
But she shared and deleted a truly harrowing post, including photos of her ex — her first baby-daddy, Josh Drummond — with a bleeding wound on his forearm that she says is self-inflicted.
(Technically, we’re not sure if she deleted the post or if Instagram decided that the image of the man’s bleeding forearm was too graphic, but Starcasm preserved her message and we’ll share that with you)
She says that he is getting out of jail and that she may in physical or even mortal danger if he makes his way to where she and her children live.
Brace yourselves, because this is not a pleasant story.
It starts off with some backstory in the form of Nikkole having made a mistake:
“For those who don’t know the back story, we got together when I was 13, I was pregnant at 15, had my son a month after I turned 16.”
That much, we knew, of course.
“He treated me like dirt, cheated on me etc. For years we were on & off. In 2012 he went to prison for 3 years and got out January of 2016… which is when we got back together.”
We’re scratching our heads, wondering why she would get back together with him.
But apparently fear of judgment is what made her keep the reunion so private.
“I truly thought he had changed and prison had given him a positive outlook on life.”
Well, things started to change a few months after they reunited.
His behavior became erratic and he began taking drugs.
Nikkole says that he even overdosed and had to be hospitalized at a time when she believed that he was at work.
(Nikkole speculates that he might be self-medicating for undiagnosed bipolar disorder, which is possible but … let’s leave diagnosis for the experts)
Apparently, dating him at this point could be jarring.
“He would go weeks & months being completely normal & a great father & a great boyfriend.”
So many people wtih so many different relationship problems are familiar with that pattern.
(And let’s not forget that, tragically, Nikkole Paulun is familiar with abuse, so she would know how to recognize these patterns)
Inevitably in these situations, the good behavior goes away.
“Then one day, a switch would flick, & he would be gone.”
When she says “gone,” she means that literally.
Because she describes him physically just departing to do drugs.
Finally, she’d had enough.
“After months of failed rehab attempts, things & money being stolen, bill money being spent, & being threatened, I said goodbye.”
Good for her.
“The next time he left, I just locked the doors. I didn’t call to ask where he was or if he was okay, he wouldn’t have answered anyway… not until he was done getting high at least.”
That’s a smart move.
Unfortunately, she says that he eventually did come home and, finding that he was unable to get inside, threw a rock through the window and then climbed in, because that’s a reasonable and also safe thing to do.
Nikkole says that she called the police but that, sadly, they did nothing.
Eventually he got an opportunity down in Texas and moved there, but their conversations on FaceTime took a dark turn when he demanded her attention (and permission to come back home) by, according to her, slitting his forearms on camera.
“Cops were called, he went missing, he was found, taken to the hospital, refused treatment, came back to where he was staying, & strangled his family member until they passed out.”
Nikkole says that the family member in question is okay, but that she knows that it could just as easily have been her.
(She also strongly implies that her her children could have witnessed something like that, or perhaps even become Josh’s next victims, had he been with her)
To clarify, he was definitely arrested last month, because it turns out that nonconsensual strangulation is a crime.
But Nikkole is still afraid.
“But now in less than 2 weeks he has court and I’m so so scared he will be released & will try coming back here to my home.”
It sounds like O.J. Simpson being granted parole isn’t the only incident of a nightmare of a human being who should probably remain behind bars.
“I know he needs help but he doesn’t want it.”
That’s so common, unfortunately.
“I already have plans in place if he does, but it hurts my heart to think that me and the kids won’t be able to stay in our own house all because of him.”
It’s good that she has a plan in place, but sad that she needs one.
We really, really hope — for the safety and happiness of Nikkole and her children — that her plea reaches the court’s ears.
This is all so, so scary.
