Former Bachelorette star DeAnna Pappas celebrated her son Austin’s 9th birthday following her recent arrest.
“Baby Austin gets me every time,” Pappas, 43, captioned a throwback photo of her son via her Instagram Story on Sunday, March 16. A second image showed Austin sitting in front of an Oreo-covered birthday cake while blowing out a “9” candle to celebrate his big day.
While Pappas didn’t add a caption to the image, she did add an animated “9” to the image in reference to her son’s age.
The celebration comes shortly after news broke that Pappas was arrested on February 27 following an incident with her ex-husband, Stephen Stagliano. (Along with Austin, Pappas shares 11-year-old daughter Addison with her ex.)
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Court documents obtained by Us Weekly earlier this month revealed that Lynn Stagliano — presumably Stephen’s mother — filed a declaration in the pair’s divorce claiming that she went to Pappas’ house in late February and “very clearly smelled alcohol” on the former reality star’s breath.
The docs alleged that Lynn took Austin and left on February 26, while Stephen returned to the home later that night to pick up Addison. Pappas claimed that she had walked Addison to his car. (In Touch was first to report the news.)
“Stephen told me I needed to walk closer to him because he wanted to smell my breath to make sure that I was not drunk. I had not consumed any alcohol. I ignored Stephen’s comment, and I walked back into the garage,” she claimed, alleging that Stephen had left their daughter in the car and started stealing items from her garage.
“I tried to shut my garage door. Stephen pushed my garage door upward so that it would not close,” she continued. “I shouted at Stephen to get out of my garage. Stephen refused to leave.”
Pappas alleged that Addison recorded the incident on her phone, claiming that Stephen had grabbed and shoved her during the altercation. He allegedly called the police to the home and claimed that Pappas was “the aggressor” in the situation.
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“At no time was I requested to test for alcohol despite Stephen’s allegations,” she claimed. “In fact, the officer that arrested me exhibited no concern that I was at all intoxicated.”
Pappas was arrested on a misdemeanor charge and released after paying a $20,000 bond. She has since denied allegations of a drinking problem in her legal response.
Pappas appeared on Brad Womack’s season of The Bachelor in 2007 and was named the season 4 Bachelorette in 2008. She split from her final rose winner, Jesse Csincsak, before moving on with Stephen. They married in October 2011 but announced their separation in January 2023. Their divorce was finalized in June 2024.
Pappas has since filed a restraining order against Stephen. In Touch reported that a hearing date is set for later this month.
