It’s a culinary catfight.
The owner of a buzzy Los Angeles restaurant has accused her estranged husband and co-chef of killing their pet cats in an explosive divorce filing that has rocked Tinseltown and spawned wild rumors on social media.
Elizabeth Johnson, 32, and Will Aghajanian, 31, opened Hollywood eatery Horses in late 2021, which quickly went on to change into the town’s chicest celebrity hangout, boasting clientele including Jeff Bezos, Jay-Z, Will Ferrell and Chrissy Teigen.
Johnson and Aghajanian were hailed as “power-couple chefs,” and the restaurant was profiled in publications including Vanity Fair and the Recent York Times.
Nevertheless, behind the scenes, the connection between the new chefs was considerably cooler.
Within the LA Court divorce filing obtained by the Post, Johnson accuses her husband of domestic violence and animal abuse.
“[Will] and I actually have had quite a lot of cats that mysteriously ended up dying. At the least certainly one of them was examined at a shelter, and I used to be told she had been seriously abused,” Johnson claimed within the docs. “[He] all the time denied it was him, and I believed him. Nevertheless, shortly before looking for the [domestic violence total restraining order] DVTRO, I caught [him] violently shaking a latest kitten we had adopted, who died the following day.”
Johnson also claimed within the filings that she was given one other kitten late last yr, which Aghajanian allegedly joked about “feeding to coyotes.”
She later claimed to have witnessed her husband abusing the animal, stating: “I caught Will violently shaking the cat late at night, and he died the following day,” she wrote. “Will put the dead cat within the trash and insisted on keeping the corpse in the home.”
Aghajanian has denied Johnson’s claims in his own court filings, describing them as “false allegations.”
The Post has reached out to Aghajanian and Johnson for comment.
Meanwhile, the LA Times — who first broke the divorce story — reported that Aghajanian’s own mother reported in a declaration that the couple had a “series of kittens” that died when he and Johnson were living in Recent York City.
“Liz talked about them and the way one after the opposite died. She and Will believed that it was as a consequence of rat poison utilized in the buildings there,” she reportedly stated.
On Wednesday, shortly before the LA Times published their report, wild rumors began spreading on social media, with some saying as much as eight cats related to Aghajanian had all mysteriously died.
There are also bizarre claims going viral that the animals were abused in more disturbing manner. It’s currently unclear how the more sensational rumors began blowing up on Twitter. Nevertheless, Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz teased that one other, longer — and potentially more explosive— piece is soon set to be published by a contract journalist.
On Twitter, nonetheless, others defended Aghajanian, with several claiming the unsubstantiated allegations were “all made up for her [Johnson] to regain ownership” of Horses.
Meanwhile, within the divorce filing, Johnson also asked for a domestic violence restraining order, claiming Aghajanian had abused her.
In 2019, she claimed that Aghajanian dragged her by the legs across the ground while she screamed and attempted to withstand.
Nevertheless, he has clapped back, claiming Johnson was the abusive partner of their ill-fated love match — and that her allegations are a part of a sinister smear campaign to “take my businesses away from me through divorce.”
“I like cats, mice. And each other animal under gods/allah whatever each religion calls him/her and have loved all animals since I used to be a baby,” Aghajanian told the LA Times. “I actually have problems killing lobster, and typically attempt to do it in essentially the most humane way possible.”
“She falsely accuses me of things that she has done or that she threatened to do to me and my pets,” he wrote as a part of his divorce filing. “My pets are like children to me and I like them dearly.”
Aghajanian added that he had been physically abused by Johnson, saying she had “burned him no less than twice with a metal spatula and a spoon she had placed in a fryer.”
A friend also filed a declaration as party of the acrimonious divorce saying he had personally witnessed Johnson hitting Aghajanian and “belligerently screaming” at him.
Following the publication of the LA Times story on Wednesday, the official Instagram account for Horses posted a press release that read: “Will Aghajanian has been on a leave of absence from Horses as of November 2022, and since then he has not been involved within the day-to-day operations of the restaurant.”
Johnson is continuous to guide the restaurant.
