The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City recently returned for a new season and brought a few new faces. One of the newbies that fans are getting to know is Britani Bateman, a ‘friend of.’ So far, she’s a welcome addition to a season that’s off to a great start. However, she’s had a rough go of things in her personal life. Now, her lawsuit against her ex-husband from last year has surfaced, and it details a string of abusive behavior directed toward her.
Britani married John Scott Underwood in July 2016. Reports say the two separated in March 2023, and their divorce was finalized several months later in October. She filed the previously mentioned lawsuit against John mere days after their marriage was finalized. The two have no kids together, and she has since moved on, but as seen on the show, her relationship has been on and off again.
Recently, The Daily Mail was able to obtain the $2.5 million lawsuit Britani filed against her ex-husband. In it, she and her legal team allege that John became “very controlling and abusive” during their time together. It also says that the RHOSLC star sustained “severe emotional distress” while married to him. Specifically, she’s suing him for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In the lawsuit, Britani outlines several examples of John’s controlling actions. This includes “dictating what clothing, makeup, perfume, and other beauty products Britani could and could not wear or use, both in and out of his presence.” One of the most damning parts of the lawsuit says that he demanded sexual relations from her several times a day, and she could not complain about it.
In addition to controlling Britani’s clothing and makeup, the lawsuit says that John went as far as to require her to style her nails in a certain fashion. He also required her to go to the gym daily and even dictated what workouts she did.
As is the case with many situations like this, Britani also says that he had a firm hand over her spending. She had to inform him of “every dollar she spent outside his presence.”
The lawsuit also says that John became controlling over the people in Britani’s life. This even extended to her family. According to the suit, “Britani’s relationships with her children and other family members have become more and more strained since she married John.”
Fans of RHOSLC will recall that Britani not being close to her kids came up in an argument with Mary Cosby. Of course, there’s no way Mary could have known the sordid details of why she had a strained relationship with her two daughters.
The suit goes on, “John prohibited Britani from having frequent contact with her children, family members, and friends. John found it unacceptable for Britani to focus her attention on anyone other than him.”
John also controlled Britani’s behavior in public. Notably, she was forced to “avert her eyes from any man in public.” His abusive behavior toward Britani also included now allowing her access to his belongings and forcing her to leave notes around the house for him. She had to be the first person to comment on all of his social media posts, and he forced her to sell her production company. Notably, she was earning an average of $150,000 per year from the company, but he felt that she needed to put their marriage first.
The lawsuit says, “John’s paranoia, anger, insecurity, and abuse cost Britani several million dollars in lost income.” This was all while he was in severe debt and receiving food stamps. The suit also says that it was Britani who paid off his debts and even “established several investment and savings accounts for him.”
Things didn’t get better for Brittani during the divorce process. The report says, “During the divorce proceedings, John has isolated Britani from any financial sources, even after the divorce court ordered a disbursement be made to Britani from the business account.”
The suit continues, “John siphoned a large amount of profit from the business for his own financial gain, depriving Britani and other members from their share. Britani would have received $250,000 if John had not siphoned money.”
Naturally, John denied many of the claims. He says he never abused her and never had rules for how she conducted her life. However, he does admit to shutting off her phone and claims he did so because she ignored his messages. His attorney also says, “This is just one of many vexatious cases for which Ms. Underwood has had the impetuous, often making false and exaggerated claims. At least three prior cases which she was behind have already been dismissed.”
In addition, he has filed a counterclaim. It says, “Britani was self-absorbed, materialistic, denigrating to John, talked down to John, exhibited passive aggressive behaviors toward John, was egocentric, manipulative and always critical of John.”
It continues, “She has and continues to slander John and damage his character, reputation, ongoing business relationships, and prospective business relationships and associates. She has made false accusations of abuse against John and conspires with others to do the same.”
Britani responded to his claim, and the case is ongoing. There hasn’t been an additional filing since February.
Fans can watch Britani on RHOSLC on Wednesday nights on Bravo.
