I did not even know that white nationalist Richard Spencer had a wife, but a) she’s divorcing him, and b) she says he abused her in a multitude of ways throughout their marriage.
According to Buzzfeed, Nina Kroupiianova has been married to Spencer since 2010, though the two separated in 2017. Kroupiianova filed for divorce in June, and in divorce papers alleges that Spencer was “physically, emotionally, verbally and financially abusive” to her, and in multiple incidents, held her down and dragged her around by her hair. He also reportedly liked to tell her things like, “The only language women understand is violence,” how lovely. Plus: “Much of the abuse has occurred in the presence of the parties’ children,” her lawyers allege in court papers.
Here’s one incident, per Buzzfeed’s reporting:
In January 2011, about five months after their civil wedding ceremony and three weeks before their church wedding ceremony, Kroupiianova said that Spencer dragged her down the stairs by her “legs, arms and hair” and threw her on a couch, resulting in bruises.
“I was very sick with the stomach flu, could not keep food or water down, and wanted to stay in bed recovering. Mr. Spencer wanted to watch a movie downstairs and did not take ‘no’ for an answer,” she wrote. “He dragged me out of bed by my arms, legs, and hair, dragged me down the stairs, and threw me onto the couch. At that point he calmed down and turned on his movie. The incident resulted in bruises.”
The divorce filings also detail incidents in which Spencer allegedly smashed Kroupiianova onto the floor and held her down; pinned her with his body and held her by her neck and lower jaw while she was four months pregnant in 2014; and tried to punch her in the face and push her into a stove while she was nine months pregnant in 2017. Kroupiianova recorded a number of calls she made to Spencer, in which he said things to her like, “Do you think your parents will attend your funeral?” She also claims he referred to their babysitter as a “fucking sub-mediocre human being,” and that his public persona has turned his two children into “targets of violence.”
The full list of allegations against Spencer are disturbing, if not necessarily surprising, considering Spencer spews racist, violent vitriol so strong that last year it inspired one of his followers to drive a car into a crowd of protestors and kill a woman.
Spencer denied Kroupiianova’s claims against him in court filings and told Buzzfed his attorneys would send comment, though it does not appear that they did so at the time of publication.