Jacob Couch’s former fiancée, Emma Bruntil – a decorated wrestler for Team USA – has recently alleged that Couch has been abusive towards her in their relationship.

She shared the details via a Reddit post (make sure to read the entire post for all details):

In the beginning, there were warning signs with Jacob. He was extremely controlling. He didn’t want me going out, using Snapchat, dressing in certain ways, wearing make up, or posting certain things on my social media…

Leading into worlds, there were certain scenarios that became quite serious. The night after Final X, my ex and I were staying at a friend’s house before we were set to fly to Boston to film a BJJ Fanatics video. At 2am, he woke me up yelling and throwing pillows because some of my guy friends and training partners had texted me to congratulate me on making the world team. He made me block all of their numbers immediately after. I almost broke up with him, but then we had to get on a flight the next day and put on a smile for the cameras…

After the world championships, I was finally able to get the neck surgery I so desperately needed. It was also then when the isolation truly began to set in. Any friends of mine that were independent, or if they didn’t like Jacob, were deemed a threat by him. I was told I’d be disrespecting him if I hung out with them. Being that he had my location and he checked it 20 times a day, if I wanted to go see a friend that he didn’t like, I would have had to leave my phone at home and lie about my whereabouts. I don’t like to lie. It goes against everything I believe in. So I pulled away from my friends, until the only people I talked to were my brother, my parents, and my then financè.

Once he could tell I was fully isolated, and therefore fully invested in the relationship, things started to change. The love bombing and nice spells became shorter. He didn’t need to apologize for his behavior anymore, once he could sense that I wouldn’t leave him. After ADCC West Coast Trials, he went out with his friends to a night club on the Vegas strip. I wouldn’t have cared, except for the fact I hadn’t been able to so much as see most of my friends for months. He had expressly forbid me from going out our entire relationship, only to do that exact thing himself. I told him that I didn’t want to live by his rules anymore. I started to fight back against them. And that’s when sh*t started to get truly crazy.

To keep me under his control, he started using threats. He told me he’d get on a plane and find me if I ever cheated on him. He told me he’d k*ll me. He started repeating these threats multiple times per week. When I confronted him about it, he said maybe he wouldn’t k*ll me, but that he’d get on a plane, convince my parents everything was okay, fly to my home state, and stab my childhood dog. Or he would say that I was criticizing him to the point where he’d k*ll himself.

The more he felt his control of me slipping, the crazier and more escalated he was willing to become. Even to the point of bursting in the room and yelling with his finger in my face when I was hanging out with one of my friends, all because he thought that individual was bisexual. Slowly, almost every aspect of my life was under his control. It was incredibly scary.

Finally, on a trip to Mount Vernon to visit him, We broke up. He woke me up one morning by kicking the pillows again, and I knew he was angry. I walked out into the living room, to him telling me “youre done”, with the crazy look in his eyes that I had began to associate with pure insanity. I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I realized at that moment that it didn’t matter if I had. It was all about if he thought I had done something wrong. When I saw that look in his eyes, I knew that no amount of reasoning with him would help.

He was a 210 pound BJJ black belt that had been telling me for weeks that he would kill me. And here we were. In that moment, I shut down. When he was yelling, I told myself I would do or say whatever it took to make it out of there in one piece.

Luckily, I did manage to do that.

As a result of the allegations, Inverted Gear has terminated the sponsorship agreement with Couch:

 

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Couch responded to the allegations in an Instagram post, admitting to his past actions:

“I’m embarrassed to post this, but the more I think about things, the more I figure I’m not half as embarrassed as she is/was because of my actions. I thought a lot about what to say. I thought about all the things that happened that I felt like, at the time, made me act and feel the way I did. When all the smoke clears, though, that’s all just an excuse. It doesn’t really matter what Emma did or didn’t do to me. The only thing that really matters is my actions.

I let myself get to a bad place. I’m ashamed of the way I acted. My Grandma, my Mother, and my sister, as well as my current girlfriend, I’m sure, are all disappointed in me too. Regardless of whatever caused me to get there, I still acted like a child, and I really don’t much deserve to be forgiven.

With that being said, I just wanted to share Emma’s story—our story. She deserves that. Even though this happened some time ago, I’m sure it’s still just as hard for her now as it was when it happened. I broke things off, and I’m not saying that to look good. I broke things off because I became someone that I wasn’t proud of, and I finally saw the person I was being.

I’ve worked hard on being better, and I’ve been seeing someone for a long while. Emma and I coexisted in the gym after this, and hopefully, after we broke up, she didn’t feel uncomfortable on the team. My team doesn’t deserve any hate. Heath is a good man. He’s done so many things for people and asks for nothing in return ever. I just don’t want anyone cutting them down for my actions.

I know it doesn’t make things right. I know it doesn’t change the past. I hope Emma finds the healing she needs, and I wish her the best. I’m sorry to her, her supporters who were there for her (because I added stress and hurt to their lives too), my team, and everyone else it hurt. I’ll continue trying to be a better man and a better example now and in the future.”