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How Paul Teutul Sr. Built a Motorcycle Empire, but Lost His Family Along the Way

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Paul Teutul Sr. was one of the most recognized faces in the motorcycle-building industry, and this was made possible through the popularity of his reality television series “American Chopper.” The crowd cheered for him and his son Paulie or Paul Jr., in every bike convention that they participated in, and some of the most high-profile motorcycle enthusiasts around the world ordered a chopper from his New York shop, Orange County Choppers. The business empire that he created from the ground up reached the pinnacle of success, and should have made his family closer and unified than ever, as most of them contributed to the family’s hard-earned triumph, but sad to say, it went the opposite way. Paul Sr. mentioned during the early years of the Teutuls’ success that he would often wonder as to what would be the ultimate cost of that fame.

All about Paul Teutul Sr. and his volatile upbringing

Aside from his amazing bike-building skills, Paul Sr. gained worldwide recognition due to his turbulent relationship with his son, which was witnessed by millions of viewers in their reality TV show. While some insisted that it stemmed from the TV show’s writer’s imagination, those who personally knew Paul Sr. would say otherwise. Some of them weren’t shocked at the level of intensity and ferocity of the fights.

His childhood in a chaotic home

Paul Sr. was born with a middle name, John, which made him an official junior as his father was named Paul John Teutul, but he only found out about it when he applied for a passport. His parents never told him about it, so that they could easily distinguish between father and son; it was quite confusing but he said that was how it had always been with their family. His father was German-Austrian, while his mother was pure Italian, and his grandparents from both sides were European immigrants who lived in New York City before settling down in Yonkers.

Corporal punishment was the norm back then, and his parents took it to the extreme as they used a cat o’ nine tails to beat him and his sisters each time they made a mistake that angered them. He recalled that his stay-at-home mother certainly knew what buttons to push when his father came home from work, and so they ended up receiving more beating. It was always a case of a ‘damn if you do and damn if you don’t’ situation – if he was hit without doing anything wrong that day, his father would just tell him to consider it as punishment for a future mistake.

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They invented the word dysfunctional

Paul Sr.’s grandfather was successful, and owned houses in the neighborhood that he’d built with his own hands. His mantra was work, work, and more work, and this was his legacy to his clan. While Paul Sr.’s father was a hard worker too, he wasn’t good in business, and failed twice with his investments. As a result, his father was highly dependent on his grandfather, and that made his mom angry; she hated the control that her father-in-law had over her husband. It created a rift in the family, and his mom forbade them to go near their grandparents, which they often disobeyed, and were caught sneaking to eat with their grandmother who lived a block away.

Their house was a battlefield, a picture of chaos, as he grew up listening to so much yelling and screaming. He and his siblings weren’t close, and didn’t look out for each other because they were all afraid to make a mistake. To make matters worse, his mother was a closet alcoholic, while his father would also drink, although he never once saw him drunk. The vicious cycle in their home was that his mother would drink all night and then fight with his father when he returned from work. When it was daytime, she would be asleep and his father would leave to work only to return home to more fighting with his mother. In 1978, his mother died of cirrhosis of the liver.

Meet the Teutuls

Growing up in such a violent environment, Paul Sr. made a vow that his family life would be different. Despite the miserable marriage that his parents had, he still believed in marriage, and wasn’t deterred at all to build a family when he found the right woman for him.

Paul met Paula

After his nine-month stint in military service with a merchant marine ship called Enid Victory, he reconnected with an Italian high school classmate, Paula Leonardo, and they were married in 1972. While he wanted to settle down and start a family, he continued to mess around for a few years, and did odd jobs. His drinking escalated, and Paul Sr. sported a whiskey buzz while working diligently for Metropolitan Tobacco.

It was also during that time when he learned to ride a motorcycle and was hooked. Paula said that when she met Paul Sr. in high school, he wasn’t as angry then. However, she described him as someone ‘between a lost puppy and the kind of guy you wouldn’t want your daughter to date,’ but he charmed her. They went through many hardships in life, but he never gave up. Back then, she already knew something was wrong with their marriage but couldn’t figure out what it was exactly. She was determined to make it work, however, and took it as her responsibility to fix it.

The Teutul children: Paulie, Danny, Mikey, and Cristin

While Paul was determined to keep his habits from his wife, Paula eventually realized that he was addicted to drugs and alcohol. Her motivation to stay together as a family was their children, and she knew she had to be strong for everyone. At that time they already had three sons, six-year-old Paul Jr, four-year-old Daniel, and two-year-old Michael. Their only daughter, Cristin, arrived in 1982 when Paul was already in his sophomore year in recovery. Amidst the pain and the confusion that she underwent during the early years, she relied on the eldest son, Paulie, and this somehow took away his childhood, even if he was known to have been the mischievous child who could get away with everything. He was popular in school, the captain of the football team, and the creative one in the family who loved tinkering and experimenting, like his old man.

Of the four Teutul children, it was Danny who was the most responsible, and the one who did great in school. Just like Paulie, he was also into football and became a quarterback for the varsity team. Mikey was the laid-back son who was contented to be just a part of whatever his brothers were doing. Cristin was the daughter and sister they all prayed for. The boys complained that she was such a spoiled girl, but in reality, they were the ones who really showered her with time and attention. She was a social butterfly in high school, but studied hard in college and was rewarded with a nursing degree.

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How Paul Sr. built his bike-building empire

Looking back, Paul Teutul Sr. never thought that it would have been possible for a dysfunctional family of bike builders to end up as popular TV stars.

Started with a welding shop where he customized his first chopper

With all the booze and drugs, most people in their neighborhood including former teachers voted that Paul Sr. would end up as a loser, if not for the welding skills he developed after the elective course he took up in high school. He initially worked at his brother-in-law’s welding shop, but it went bankrupt. He then worked for a few local shops, but realized that he was the type of person who needed to be his own boss, because he couldn’t take orders. He took a risk by investing in welding equipment, and offered his services around the community from his truck. Eventually he expanded, and opened up a shop that flourished, as he kept receiving work until he met a smart guy named Fred who became his partner – the name of the shop was P&F Welding. Aside from being an expert in steel fabrication, Fred was also into motorcycles, so Paul learned so much from him, working with steel frames and building just about every part of a motorcycle. It was then that he customized his own Harley, and felt great about it.

From a small welding shop into a 10,000-square-foot Orange County Ironworks

Paul and Fred had a falling out after their shop burned down due to an accident. When Fred opted out, Paul picked up the pieces and opened up his own shop, Paul’s Welding. Soon, his sons worked in the shop as well, and it was then that he realized that Paulie had a gift for steel fabrication, after he’d finished a vocational course in welding, but all the Teutul children started at the bottom of the company doing odd jobs. The company was renamed Orange County Iron in 1986, after Paul Sr. bought a 7,000-square-foot shop in Montgomery, New York. There was a huge demand for iron-related products, so he expanded again, and relocated to a 10,000-square-foot warehouse to accommodate all the orders that they received. In 2004, the company had another rebranding and restructuring made by his second son, Danny, Orange County Ironworks.

The hobby turned into Orange County Choppers

Paul Sr. and Paulie shared a common interest in motorcycles. When Paul Sr. was caught by the bike-building bug, he took his eldest son with him. At that time, he was already divorced and was living alone in an apartment. When he started building a bike, he would call on Paulie to help him out. Eventually, in 1999, they co-founded Orange County Choppers in Newburgh. Initially, they had a hard time promoting their brand, but through hard work and amazing craftsmanship, their choppers were eventually noticed through word of mouth. While they were slowly becoming recognized in the bike-building industry, it hadn’t translated to profit. They needed a boost, as had happened to Jesse James who paved the way for chopper builders to attract global recognition through “Monster Garage.”

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“American Chopper”

The Teutul’s time to shine came when Discovery Channel offered them a reality TV show of their own, “American Chopper.” After they watched the pilot episode, they couldn’t help but blame each other for doing something that they believed would ruin their reputation and eventually their business – they were annoyed that the producers hadn’t editing out all the fights and intense yelling between father and son in the episode that aired. Paul Sr. threatened the producer that he would go to Los Angeles just to beat him up – the producer said to wait for the result. The next day, they were shocked at the high TV ratings the pilot episode achieved; even the servers of their website broke down, because they couldn’t handle the influx of messages they received because of the TV show. From then on, each Monday night millions of viewers would tune in to Discovery Channel to see their work on building beautiful customized choppers, and at the same time be fascinated with the family drama that rivaled popular daytime soaps.

What had been the ultimate cost of the Teutul fame?

Paul Sr. already knew back then that the kind of popularity and success that his family achieved would surely cost him something valuable. It was just too late when he realized that fame would break his family apart.

The very public termination of his eldest son’s services

Discovery Channel executives salivated in their offices when Paul Sr. and Paulie unleashed their infamous tempers in one of the episodes in the sixth season of “American Choppers”, as they imagined the kind of boost it would gain them in the ratings; other members of the Teutul family were worried that it would be the last time they would see the two together.

Many viewers thought that it was scripted, because they found it unthinkable that Paul Sr. would fire his only son, who co-founded the customization shop business that put the Teutul family on the bike-building map. Father and son argued about work attitude and habits. They yelled at each other at the top of their lungs. Paulie Sr insisted that his son Paulie follow his way of doing things such as being early coming to the shop. The son justified his tardiness, as he said that it didn’t matter if he came in late because, at the end of the day, he didn’t go home without finishing his work. The moment that led to his firing was after he uttered the line, ‘the shop would have been burned to the ground without me,’ and then he threw a chair in his father’s office out of frustration. He also reminded his father that he technically didn’t work for him since he co-founded the shop, and so was a business partner.

Lawyers made some modifications to the Teutuls’ contract, so Paulie could still appear in the TV show after he was fired by his father. It allowed father and son to continue working and filming, but never together, so avoiding more problems. However, after that season, Paulie left the show.

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Paul Sr. and Paulie filed lawsuits

When the Teutuls’ contract was modified and made Paulie an independent contractor, it also affected the 20% shares that the father gave his son when they co-founded Orange County Choppers; Paul Sr. was given the option to buy him out. In May 2009, he had the shares appraised at zero percent value, and tried to have them returned by his son, but Paulie ignored his demands, which led him to file a lawsuit against his son. Paulie countersued, and to his delight, the lower court ruled in his favor. The case was elevated to the Court of Appeals, and his son won the appeal too – the appellate judge declared that the buyout was invalid.

Mikey tried to fix the rift in the family

After joining the business as the assistant general manager, Mikey witnessed the deterioration of the relationship between his father and eldest brother. He tried his best to fix the problem by mediating between them, but it was futile. He had enough problems of his own to deal with, because he’d checked into a rehabilitation facility to work on his alcohol addiction – apparently, he’d inherited this Teutul problem. Sometime before “American Chopper” ended, Mikey was forced out of the business by Paul Sr., stating that he had been given many options to be successful, but he never did. He later on joined Paulie’s company.

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The lawsuits that were filed affected the family in many ways. Paul Sr. didn’t attend the wedding of his son Paulie, even though invited. Everyone thought that the drama between the Teutul family wouldn’t end, but time heals all wounds, and eventually they all moved on. Father and son even worked together in a spin-off series called “American Chopper: Sr. vs Jr.” but never on any bike-build project, to avoid confrontations. It lasted for four seasons, and when they did a reboot called “American Chopper: The Last Ride” in 2020, everyone had mellowed down. Paulie just wanted to enjoy quality time with his father for one last time, so he agreed to everything that Paul Sr. wanted, just as when they’d created their first bike together.

As the Managing Editor at The Legit, I direct a dynamic team dedicated to creating rich content that profiles the lives and accomplishments of influential figures. My commitment to detail and storytelling drives the production of biographies that truly engage our audience. I manage all aspects of the editorial process, from conducting thorough research to crafting vivid narratives, all while ensuring the accuracy and quality of our work. At The Legit, our goal is to offer our readers comprehensive profiles that provide deep insights into the realms of business, entertainment, and more. Through diligent research and engaging storytelling, we highlight the exceptional journeys and achievements of those who both inspire and intrigue us.

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Meet the Newest Swamp Baby: Pickle Wheat’s Daughter Is Here!

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Hunting ‘gators isn’t the easiest job around, yet there’s a group of people who live around the Atchafalaya River Basin who aren’t only more than willing to dedicate their lives to it but also enjoy doing so. As seen in the many seasons of “Swamp People”, catching ‘gators is a work which requires people to be fearless and a little too daring, but it’s worth it both for the money and keeping their familys’ traditions alive.

One of those fearless people is Pickle Wheat, who has demonstrated more than enough that she’s well fitted for the job, despite her young age. Nonetheless, besides being quite accomplished in catching ‘gators, Pickle is also a dedicated family mother, who recently welcomed her second baby.

So who is Pickle’s younger baby, and what’s with her current life? Stay here to know it all!

Did Pickle Wheat Become A Mother?

The “Swamp People” family recently welcomed a new member, who is none other than Pickle Wheat’s youngest baby. The girl was born in April 2023 and was named Maemi Rae, as her mother announced in a lovely Instagram pic at the time, in which the newborn girl could be seen sleeping while wrapped in a flowery blanket.

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Although the arrival of baby Maemi might be surprising for those who don’t follow Pickle’s social media, the truth is that the young ‘gator hunter had already announced her pregnancy back in November 2022, when she posted a Facebook pic of herself, her son, and her boyfriend buying baby clothes: ‘We are blessed beyond belief! This will be the best holiday season yet! I can’t wait to bring my little caboose on the alligator boat!’ she wrote, prompting her followers to ‘stay tuned’ for the following updates on her pregnancy journey.

Said and done, ever since she announced expecting a baby, Pickle grew rather active on social media and especially on Instagram, sharing photos and videos of her young family, and even revealing the name of her daughter a couple of months before giving birth.

All in all, there is nothing else for us than to congratulate Pickle on this chapter in her life.

What Else Is She Doing Now?

Even though it’s unclear if Pickle Wheat is taking time away from the swamps to take care of her newborn, the young ‘gator hunter was still an active “Swamp People” cast member by the time the show’s 14th season premiered in early 2023. Besides going on catching ‘gators, Pickle has some exciting adventures hunting snakes as well, even appearing alongside her mentor, Troy Landry in the third season of his show “Serpent Invasion”.

Although the life of a wild hunter is quite exciting on its own, this doesn’t stop Pickle from focusing on other projects. For a couple of years now, Pickle’s been selling her original designs through her online shop, picklewheat.com, listing everything from shirts to caps and hoodies in it.

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On the same line, Pickle’s popularity has been on the rise for some time now. Only a couple of months after starting her Instagram account in January 2023, Pickle has over 10,000 followers on the pic-sharing platform, added to the more than 100,000 fans she has on her official Facebook page, proving that she’s one of the most popular “Swamp People” stars.

Who Is Pickle Dating Now?

In October 2020, Pickle Wheat caught people’s attention for something very different than catching ‘gators, when she began dating her co-star Chase Landry. Back then the relationship became pretty obvious to anyone who was a fan of the pair, especially given how Pickle wasn’t shy from sharing pics with her boyfriend on her social media.

However, the relationship was short-lived, as a few months lafter Pickle deleted all her photos with Chase from her socials, and even her previous Instagram account at some point. It wasn’t until late 2022 when she shared news of her pregnancy on Facebook, that her followers were introduced to her new boyfriend, Joshua Kippes.

Not much is known about Joshua, except for the fact he’s an emergency technician and that he goes on a lot of adventures with Pickles. Though his professional background is vastly different than hers, Pickle has introduced him to her world by teaching him to hunt, and taking him on trips through her native Louisiana, as she’s proudly shown on social media.

Overall, Pickle seems to be very content about this new chapter in her life.

Did She Have An Accident?

Everyone who’s appeared in “Swamp People” is undoubtedly very experienced in what they do, but that doesn’t exclude them from having some rare accidents from time to time. It’s no different for Pickle Wheat, who a couple of years ago had a scary time while hunting ‘gators alongside Troy Landry.

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As Pickle recalled during an interview with The Sun, she was in the process of lifting a ‘gator from the water when the boat bumped over a cypress, resulting in Pickle falling overboard and onto the ‘gator. Although she was able to go back to the boat, the severity of the situation only dawned on her when she noticed Troy had been worried for her wellbeing.

At the end of the day, Pickle and Troy returned home safely, but the scary situation is one of those which reminds us of how dangerous the job of “Swamp People”s hunters is.

How Did Pickle Get Into ‘Gator Hunting?

Even though Pickle Wheat only became a main cast member of “Swamp People” in the 12th season, she had been catching ‘gators long before that.

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As it happens, Pickle, whose real name is Cheyennes Wheat, is just continuing a long-lasting tradition of gator hunters from her family. As she admitted during an interview with The Sun in 2023, her grandfather was an experienced ‘gator hunter who passed down his knowledge to the younger generations. Impressively enough, at the tender age of six, Pickle was already accompanying her elders to the swamps, gaining the necessary experience to not only catch ‘gators by herself years later, but also to love the swampland as if it was her own home.

That being said, Pickles has no doubts that her children will grow to love her profession as much as she does: ‘There’s really no reason to be scared, we are around it our whole lives, so I hope to raise them in the same way that I was brought up’, she said, also admitting that it would be a ‘dream come true’ to see her children following on her steps.

All in all, Pickle Wheat is a great gator hunter, but there’s more to her than just the swamps. Regardless of whatever the future has in store for her on TV or off-cameras, there’s no doubt she’s someone worth keeping our attention on.

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Autoimmune disease; Lost father in 2020; Raise $100k – How is Brandi Passante doing today?

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Brandi Passante is one of the most recognized faces in the reality television series “Storage Wars.” She’s undergone a series of challenges in her personal life these past few years, that some fans thought would drive her to end her participation in the show. Fans wouldn’t hold it against her if she indeed took some time off to rejuvenate, since it was devastating to deal with problems publicly such as the death of a loved one, domestic abuse, single motherhood, and an autoimmune disease. She bravely faced these misfortunes head-on, while inspiring others to maintain a positive outlook on life, by continuing to set goals and striving to achieve them.

Get to know Brandi Passante before “Storage Wars”

Brandi Leigh Passante was a Texas native, who was born on 16 May 1980, in the most populous county in the US, Harris County, to parents Joe Passante and Cheryl Gibson Begandy; she has two brothers, Alexander and Bruce. In the rare times that she mentioned her upbringing, it was to say that she had a tumultuous childhood. In one podcast guest appearance, she never refuted what the host said about her home – that it was unstable, unpredictable, and erratic at times. Brandi also agreed when the host said that she probably felt that she never stood on solid ground and that she just skated around to get by.

Her family was from a long line of coal-mining hillbillies. However, her father worked on cars, and his specialization was installing windows and windshields. In an interview, it was insinuated that she underwent mother-daughter challenges but never went into details. Fans then surmised that the reason why she didn’t like to talk about it was that she had a not-so-happy childhood, and it was somehow confirmed when she said, ‘I was constantly questioning if I was adopted or something, because I just felt that I never belonged.’ Be that as it may, Brandi had fond memories of her “Papaw,” her grandfather on her mom’s side named Robert Gene Gibson, who passed away in May 2013. He was the star of her first post on her Facebook account.

When Brandi met Jarrod

Aside from very rare photos and stories shared on her social media pages, nobody really knew anything about her until she joined a reality TV show with her boyfriend, Jarrod Schulz. Fans loved to hear how Brandi and Jarrod first met – it was back in 1999 when she started working at a carpet cleaning business, and he was her direct supervisor. Initially, he would jokingly tell everyone that she stalked him after their first meeting, but he confessed later on that he relentlessly pursued her. He knew that she was way out of his league, so he became creative as his friends would remind him to be extra careful and nice in dealing with her. Brandi said that he wore her down as he followed her wherever she went. His persistence won her over, and a few years later, they had two kids, Cameron and Payton.

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What was “Storage Wars” all about?

In the 21st century, reality shows redefined the TV format. People from all walks of life not only in the US but around the globe were hooked on these types of shows; they even dominated social media and streaming platforms. When “Storage Wars” was launched in 2010, the TV industry was shocked that something as banal or trivial as abandoned storage lockers would generate so much interest from viewers. Even some of the A&E executives thought that the idea would never work, but it did – in its first season, it averaged close to 2.5 million viewers weekly, and became one of the most viewed non-scripted shows on the cable channel. Its popularity started the whole storage auction craze on the entire reality TV programming, and has since enjoyed high viewership ratings, now approaching its 15th season this 2023.

“Storage Wars” featured a group of business entrepreneurs who purchased abandoned storage lockers or units by bidding on them during an auction at storage facilities. In most states in the US, a storage unit on which the rent hadn’t been paid for the past three months, the storage facility owners had the right to put it up for auction. Valuables such as artwork, machinery, antiques, and jewelry were reported to have been found in them; it had become a form of treasure hunting, but in storage facilities instead of going to exotic islands.

During the first season, Brandi Passante along with her fiancé Jarrod Schulz was joined by other storage buyers such as Dave Hester, Barry Weiss, Darrell Sheets and Brandon Sheets with resident auctioneers Dan and Laura Dotson.

Her journey with “Storage Wars”

One of the reasons that the reality series industry became a huge hit was mainly due to the interesting and controversial characters who were introduced to the public. In “Storage Wars,” Brandi easily became a fan favorite along with Jarrod, as they were the underdogs in a group of veteran storage auction buyers.

How did Brandi join “Storage Wars”

The producers of “Storage Wars” were on the lookout for people who were buying abandoned storage lockers in California. Brandi said that they were included in the cast mainly by chance – they were attending an auction in a storage facility center, and people from the production crew were filming for the pilot episode of the TV show. They initially talked to Jarrod, but when they saw Brandi, they immediately asked him if she would be interested in appearing on TV. It wasn’t as if the couple ever thought they would be on TV someday, but they agreed, as it could be good for their business, and at the same time bet paid for it. She said, ‘We really didn’t think it would go anywhere, but it became a big deal.’

Brandi Passante’s first appearance in the series

When viewers first saw her, they thought that she was from the stereotypical mold of those gorgeous blondes who were unfairly described as vain, dumb, and immensely superficial, but she wasn’t like that. During the first episode, she was introduced as Jarrod’s wife and business partner, who managed their second-hand thrift store called Now and Then located in Orange, California. Since she was the one who handled the accounting books, she knew if the store was making money out of Jarrod’s auction purchase. One day, he bought a unit with a car in it, but Brandi was still wary about the purchase, since their store still had the dirt bikes that turned out to be broken when he got them from an auction. This time around, he brought some great news, as he had someone appraise the car and said that it was worth around $2400. Brandi was happy that for once Jarrod was right; they were lucky. since he never had a chance to know if the car was running when placing a bid on the abandoned storage locker, for which he later paid $700.

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She started to take a larger role in storage hunting

It didn’t take long before Jarrod took Brandi to the auctions – normally, she would stay in the store while Jarrod hunted for the storage unit, but they decided to change their strategy and have her accompany him, to have another set of eyes and ears. She planned to stay in the background, look around, but make sure that the other buyers didn’t realize if Jarrod was interested in a unit or not, and their plan worked. Brandi kept on bidding during the auction and the others never realized that they had been played because at the end of the bidding process, Jarrod even asked the auctioneer who won the bidding. Some of the veteran buyers said that if they knew that she was Jarrod’s wife, they would have aggressively joined the bidding. Brandi said, ‘I’m not usually a bidder on the units so I think it kind of threw them off’; the other buyers said it wouldn’t happen again. She scored big, as most of the things inside the unit were unopened boxes with brand-new electronic gadgets. They earned $2300 from the unit, for which they paid just $800.

Started in a spin-off series called “Married to the Job”

Brandi and Jarrod became a favorite couple in the original series, and their popularity led the production team to give them a special. It was a test run, and the executives then gave the green light to produce the spin-off series, “Brandi and Jarrod: Married to the Job.” Viewers were curious about how the couple managed two thrift stores in California while raising their two kids at the same time; it was launched in August 2014 and had eight episodes, mostly about how Jarrod proposed to Brandi and their wedding plans, because apparently, they hadn’t officially exchanged wedding vows yet, even if they treated each other as husband and wife. For some reason, it never went past that first season, but they just continued filming for the original series.

Controversies Brandi dealt with while in “Storage Wars”

“Storage Wars” was supposed to be a reality TV series, but it didn’t mean that the stars could talk about their private lives in front of the camera if they wanted to. The cast had certain rules to follow, and the executive producers insisted on this requirement to maintain the stability of the show. Here are some of the controversies that Brandi was embroiled in but were never discussed on the show:

Brandi sued the Internet’s Most Hated Man

In October 2012, the reality TV star filed a lawsuit against Hunter Moore, also known as “Internet’s Most Hated Man” – he published unauthorized pornographic photos of men and women on his site, IsAnyoneUp.com. He claimed that he started it as a form of ‘revenge porn’ for those who had been jilted or wronged in a relationship. Many people submitted photos to him, and Hunter made money out of it. Brandi received many disturbing messages through Twitter such as ‘Love the pics’ and ‘Can’t wait for the video.’ She found out that Hunter posted nude photos, which he claimed were hers but were actually fake. She won the case as the judge ruled in her favor in June 2013 except for the actual damages that she was seeking. Brandi asked for $2.5 million, but the judge only awarded her $750, and payment for attorney fees. The court said that she was unable to provide pieces of evidence for the estimated calculation of damages, but Hunter’s site was shut down after it received a cease and desist order.

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She had plastic surgery as required by the A&E network

Dave Hester once filed a complaint against the producers of “Storage Wars” calling it fake, and that the producers staged most of the scenarios in the show. He also mentioned that the A&E network required Brandi to undergo plastic surgery to enhance her looks, and make her face more pleasing to the audience. Nobody believed it since there were many in the cast who weren’t asked to have a procedure done, but continued to be in the show. A few childhood and teen photos that were posted on her social media looked just like her adult self, so fans assumed that Dave was trying to be controversial and attract attention to his legal complaint.

Brandi and Jarrod quietly split up in 2018

The funny and sometimes spicy banter between Brandi and Jarrod was one of the reasons why fans fell in love with them. It was found out later on that the couple broke up in 2018, but they kept it a secret partly because of the TV show, and mainly for their children. It happened just after filming the 12th season of the show; there were times that some fans thought that the two separated since they were seen with a different person on their social media pages, but since neither officially confirmed it, it was just treated as a rumor. They never addressed it until the premiere of the 13th season. Jarrod said that just because they weren’t together anymore, it didn’t mean that they couldn’t work in the same business.

Her life after the split

Many people were surprised by the shocking revelations that unfolded after Brandi broke-up from her longtime partner. She became a little bit more open about herself, saying that for many years, she was forbidden to have an identity. ‘And so these last couple of years, I’m kind of coming into my own, and figuring out who I am.’

Lost her father in 2020

After the split-up became public, she lost her father, Baldassare Joseph Passante, on 26 October 2020 from lung cancer. Apparently, her father had been sick most of her life, as he suffered from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) for about 35 years. He also had arthritis, osteoporosis, and liver cancer. She paid tribute to her father on her Facebook account, with a photo of her sleeping on his father’s lap when she was still a baby. Brandi recalled that her father never once yelled or got mad at her.

Auto-immune disease

Some fans could sometimes be rudely vulgar on social media. Brandi was called names due to her raspy voice. She addressed it by telling everyone that she had been suffering from an auto-immune disorder, Hashimoto’s Disease., which specifically targeted the thyroid glands, and that made her voice raspy at times.

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Single motherhood

The transition in her life was a little harder than she thought it would be. She said that being a single mother would have been easier if her children were still young kids instead of teens, because they could be rebellious at times. Brandi shared, ‘Teenagers are tough, especially when you’re doing it by yourself.’ However, it seemed that they’ve adjusted pretty well now, based on her Instagram post, which showed her son matriculating from high school. She wrote, ‘So proud, & so fortunate to have these 2 beautiful, kind, & loving souls. I don’t know what I did to deserve them.’

Domestic violence charges

When Brandi and Jarrod revealed publicly that they’d broken up, everyone thought that everything was already resolved between them, since it had happened two years before they announced it. In April 2021, Brandi was out with friends in a bar in California; when Jarrod arrived at the place, the two talked but things got heated and she told him to go home. He refused and was getting physical by pushing her hard twice while yelling at her. Someone in the bar called the police, but when they arrived, he was long gone. However, after a report was filed, he was arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence battery.

https://www.instagram.com/p/rp3krriSZQ/

People weren’t surprised anymore to see Brandi offering her services to fund-raising events such as the Women’s Own Worth in Arkansas – the organization helped abused women by empowering them with opportunities. She hosted the event, and raised about $100,000 for its cause. She said, ‘I’ve experienced some things in my life, and it’s a really wonderful cause.’ Brandi was still shy in sharing details of her misfortunes, and some people felt that it was because of her children.

She might have undergone many tragic events in her life, but she’d moved on, and there were rumors about her happily dating a new guy recently, but never sharing his identity.

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Amy Slaton & Michael’s Custody Agreement Explained

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Reality TV star and YouTuber Michael Halterman, had the misfortune of getting to know the notorious Amy Slaton while still in high school, around 2001. He had no idea the kind of person she really was back then, and he wouldn’t find out until 2014 and subsequent years, when Amy’s popularity would hit all-time highs on YouTube.

The false sense of comfort and security brought about by Amy’s new income would allow for all manner of irresponsibility to be showcased, and admitted to later down the line. In all those instances, it was the people (or animals) around Amy suffering the brunt of her refusal to step up and behave in a way becoming of her age and status.

Many believed that giving birth to a child would cause Amy to finally think long and hard about her choices, and change for the better, but it seems that Gage Deon coming into the world on 10 November 2020 had no positive effect on his mother overall.

The couple tried again after that, and Glenn Allen Halterman was born on 26 July 2022. In spite of the joy that two new innocent lives tend to bring while roaming around the household, Amy and Michael only seemed to grow more distant as time went by.

This buildup of animosity culminated on 13 March 2023, when Michael filed for divorce. Amy didn’t stay silent either, pushing for divorce as well, and alleging to the authorities that Michael has certain anger issues. While still not proven in a court of law, it’s reported by Amy that her soon-to-be ex-husband tends to throw things around the house whenever tension spikes up.

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She also said that he’s quite controlling, forbidding her from taking the children to see family members if that inconveniences him on that particular day. However, it can’t be known for certain whether any of this is true until a proper investigation is conducted. That said, knowing Amy’s history of telling falsehoods, it’s very likely that violent and/or irresponsible behavior between the two isn’t simply one-sided.

All of these factors, and many more, have been brought up in the court case of their divorce, especially in order to resolve the matter of who will have primary custody over their two innocent boys. As of late April 2023, the result of the ongoing proceedings is anyone’s guess, and the only respite that the curious crowd can get from sheer ignorance is the hindsight of Amy and Michael as separate individuals and a married couple.

The beginning of the end

As the already battered reputation of the Slaton sisters proceeded to deteriorate at an even faster pace following the second half of the 2010s, one could argue that it became increasingly difficult to remain loving and understanding towards Amy, especially considering her many transgressions against others.

While the details on this matter are still not clear, it’s evident that Michael became quite unhappy with their marriage in 2021, approximately two years into its existence. Although not logically surprising in the slightest, this shift of emotions came as a shock to the many fans who kept up with the couple over the years. Their dedicated subscribers are familiar with the fact that the two had been dating since high school, and had even ‘eloped’ in June 2017.

Their recent marriage fiasco thus confused many, and had some wondering; since Michael already seemed at ease with most of the things Amy had admitted to, which could’ve been so unforgivable as to even force him to abandon ship, in spite of the ever-higher ratings and substantial profits that they were raking in from the TLC reality TV series made for Amy and Tammy – “1000-lb Sisters.”

While it’s too early to make any conclusions about whose fault it really is, though most believe the guilt to be two-sided, what can be said for certain is that both Amy and Michael have had a past filled with unlawful behavior. The main theme of Amy’s wrongdoings seems to be negligence, deceit, and irresponsibility, while Michael is mostly known for having been violent.

The Slaton-Halterman skeletons

Due to her controversial past as a content creator, Amy is very easy to blame for any bumps in the road in a given relationship. Her bad habits notwithstanding, it seems that Michael hasn’t been a law-abiding citizen either, with a less-than-stellar streak of undesirable behavior. It’s believed that the couple are now using each other’s past to justify their own claims, which could, in theory, make them equally guilty in the entire matter.

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It’s definitely easier to start with Michael, as his past is nowhere near as despicable as Amy’s. He noteworthily went on record on 7 November 2015, having his mugshot uploaded to the national offender database at the Henderson police department in Kentucky, charged with fourth-degree domestic violence for causing a minor injury. The details regarding this event are still unknown  in mid-2023, but the severity can be assumed from the charge itself.

In the state of Kentucky, fourth-degree assault is a Class A misdemeanor, and it can also be charged as domestic violence if the victim is a family member or one of an unmarried couple. According to Kentucky laws, assault in the fourth degree can be intentional or wanton, causing physical injury to another person, or recklessly causing physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument.

Domestic violence and abuse, in this case, are defined as causing some degree of physical injury, committing sexual abuse, committing assault, or committing stalking between family members or members of an unmarried couple. This charge is usually not a felony, but can have serious consequences. Each victim of domestic violence has legal options, and may request the court to issue a protective order which can limit or stop all contact with an abusive individual. These orders can be temporary or extended, depending on the severity of the situation.

Fans have theorized that this event may have occurred between Michael and Amy, during one of their at-the-time rather rare altercations, but there’s no evidence to support this claim. Not even the Slaton sister herself has ever mentioned this arrest, leading most others to believe that it’s entirely unrelated to her.

Still, that begs the question as to who else it might be, since Michael isn’t known to have ever had a girlfriend other than Amy, and he’s not very close to his family. Halterman may have spent reasonable time behind bars for this incident, or he may have been substantially fined. Either way, it’s evident that he learnt his lesson, as that was the one and only time he’s had a run in with the law.

Amy, on the other hand, is a wrongdoer of an entirely different magnitude. She and Tammy have been the subject of many videos by big-time content creators, detailing their despicable actions on the platform prior to getting their own show on TLC. SunnyV2, for example, dubbed them as “The Sisters Who Faked Their Funeral For Money”, his video in particular contributing a great deal to the rise of the Slaton’s notoriety.

The video, of course, refers to the time when Amy asked fans to give as much money as they could so as to fund Tammy’s upcoming funeral, that is, ‘just in case’ she died. The plea was publicized in one of the videos on her channel following Tammy’s admission to hospital for pneumonia that left her immobilized.

There was no talk of potential death, however, as no doctor even hinted at a possibility of this happening. Still, Amy got on camera and started sobbing hysterically, while asking viewers for money that would be used to fund Tammy’s extra large triple-sized coffin. She promised that all proceeds would be used strictly to fund the funeral, in the unfortunate event of that being necessary.

After a few weeks, it was revealed that Tammy was alive and well, and back in the household. The disgruntled fans asked Amy what she did with the money, to which the sisters replied that it was given to their mother to pay for Tammy’s hospital bills. Naturally, those who donated their hard-earned money wanted to see exactly where it went, so asked the sisters for receipts of these so-called expenses.

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No confirmation of a payment was ever provided, however, and Amy cited the reason for this as her mother being irresponsible. She pretty much stated that it was her mother’s duty to provide the receipts, as she was the one using the money after all. According to this narrative, neither of the sisters was to blame in the slightest – they were just innocents caught up in a scandal due to unfortunate circumstances.

This was far from the truth though, and that became apparent when Amy changed her story a few months down the line, saying that she did have the receipts at some point, but ended up throwing them away. Her reasoning for getting rid of the papers was that she had no idea they would be needed at some point, comparing the receipts for someone else’s money to her own from Walmart.

As the scammed fans became increasingly more enraged by the situation, Amy realized that she had to do something about it, or otherwise risk losing her career. The donators were ultimately offered reimbursement for their full donations, and things seemed to calm down for a while.

However, it was noted in the comment sections of the sisters’ subsequent videos that there were dozens upon dozens of disgruntled viewers who still hadn’t got their money back from the donation fiasco. These concerns were never addressed, and Amy dismissed all future mentions of the incident as though nothing ever happened.

To top that off, Amy was also arrested for shoplifting in 2010, which means both of her children’s parents have a criminal record. She also twice abandoned a dog in a vehicle during daytime and without air-conditioning on, but the authorities are least interested in cases like that, while stealing money and items from stores is a definite sign of criminal behavior.

The rules of custody

With all of this in mind, it becomes pretty difficult to pick a favorite parent from the two, so most fans are just waiting to see the court’s final decision. All of the current case files, at least as of late April 2023, have been obtained and explained by intouchweekly.com. The details are both confusing and surprising.

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First of all, it was Michael and not Amy who initially filed for divorce. He submitted the request on 13 March 2023, but listed no official reason for it. He did this a few days after Amy had moved out of their shared home with their children, presumably with the intent to live at Tammy’s house until the entire legal matter is settled. This must’ve been the breaking point for Michael, who finally decided that he’d had it with the Slaton sister.

In order to stop her from lying to the court, he also requested that both of them obtain a restraining order of one another, making it illegal for them to be within 500ft (150m) of one another’s places of residence, that neither of them be allowed to post anything related to the separation on social media, and that all of their communication must take place on an app that was sanctioned by the court.

He most likely made these requests to be as transparent as possible, since there’s a chance that Amy’s February 28th call to the authorities to report her husband behaving violently was an elaborate set-up by the sister herself. Following her telling the police that Michael was throwing things around and being violent with the boys, Halterman was issued an emergency restraining order. It was amended approximately a week later though, and he was allowed supervised visitation rights.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkRHVJyN-2v/

As things stand near the end of April 2023, the children are entirely in Amy’s custody, but Michael can see them from time to time if his mother and sister are also present for the whole duration of the visit. It isn’t specified how frequently Michael can come over or request to do so, but things aren’t likely to remain this way, since he and Amy are still battling it out in court.

The remainder of 2023 will potentially see the final outcome of this legal altercation, while the fans of either celebrity are still anxiously waiting to be proven right for supporting their favorite of the two. Due to the lack of evidence and transparency by both parties, almost everything they’re accusing each other of is currently nothing more than an allegation.

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