Matt Kirschenheiter pled guilty today to felony corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant and felony false imprisonment affected by violence, menace, fraud, or deceit. Along with his appearance in court, his ex-wife, “Real Housewives of Orange County” star Gina Kirshenheiter, appeared to read an emotional statement to the court about the situation.
In court records, obtained by The Blast, Matt appeared in an Orange County, CA court on Tuesday, and was sentenced to 3 years of formal probation, 180 days in county jail, a batterers’ treatment program, 8 hours of community service, and he must pay restitution.
As we previously reported, Matt was arrested in June 2019 on suspicion of domestic violence relating to an incident with his ex-wife, ‘RHOC’ star, Gina Kirschenheiter, and was charged in September that same year. Matt initially pled not guilty to the charges, but today he was convicted of the alleged crimes.
Gina Kirschenheiter requested an emergency domestic violence restraining order against her ex-husband back in June of 2019, claiming Matt choked and hit her during a blowout fight at the couple’s home.
In the documents, obtained by The Blast, Gina claimed that after returning home from a night out over the weekend, Matt showed up at her home around 2:00 AM, “pounding at the door.” She explained when she went downstairs, he had already entered the house before he, “threw me down on the couch and threw some furniture around” and claimed he was “screaming in my face and saying he was going to kill me.”
Gina continued, “He ripped my bra off, then took a pillow and hit me on the side of the head with it hard. I begged him to stop…to calm down…but he kept hitting me.” Eventually, she says, “He started to hit me on the side of the head with his open hand. When I tried to get up off of the couch, he threw me back down and began choking me. Then he started to hit me all over my body.”
Gina also revealed their children were home at the time of the incident, and that she pleaded with him to stop for the sake of them. She alleged that Matt continued to harass her after he was arrested for felony domestic battery, blaming Gina for getting him arrested and even contacted her when he got out of jail.
Gina stated in her request for a restraining order that she has “to protect me and our children” and that she and Matt attempted to reconcile in hopes of keeping their family together. Gina also said “Matt needs professional help, which is more than I can give him.” Gina currently has a temporary restraining order against Matt, and they will be back in court in June 2021 to determine if the restraining order will become permanent.
