'Shahs of Sunset' star sued for assault, battery by former fiancée
WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE WITH ANDY COHEN -- Episode 18135 -- Pictured: Mike Shouhed -- (Photo by: Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - Former "Shahs of Sunset" cast member Mike Shouhed is being sued by his former fiancee for allegedly beating and suffocating her in a bedroom and a children's playroom in her Encino home in 2022.
Social media personality Paulina Ben-Cohen's Van Nuys Superior Court lawsuit alleges assault and battery, gender violence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit, which includes multiple still photos of the alleged assault.
A representative for Shouhed could not be immediately reached for comment on the suit brought Friday.
According to the suit, on March 27, 2022, Ben-Cohen put her children to bed, closed the door, went downstairs and started to have a tobacco-free hookah, a tradition in her culture. Shouhed, who was upstairs in a balcony area on the second floor of the residence, leaned over the ledge and began arguing with the plaintiff about the hookah and called her obscene names, the suit states.
Ben-Cohen told Shouhed her feelings about their relationship and told him it would be best if he left, but when he refused, she began packing his clothes for him, the suit states.
As Ben-Cohen was walking to a clothing rack to remove some of Shouhed's clothing, he "forcefully grabbed hair and shoulder and violently threw her to the ground," the suit alleges.
Shouhed then bent over Ben-Cohen, struck her in the face, put his hand over her face and tried to suffocate her as she struggled to breathe, according to the suit, which also states that he threatened to kill the plaintiff and told her he had a hitman who would "put her away."
The struggle eventually moved from the bedroom to the playroom, the suit states.
"Nearly four minutes after Shouhed initiated his series of vicious and brutal attacks on plaintiff, this harrowing incident finally came to an end," the suit states. "After Shouhed went upstairs to retrieve one of his firearms, the police were called, came to the residence and arrested Shouhed.
Shouhed had threatened to kill Ben-Cohen during previous confrontations in 2021, including one instance when he put a gun to her head and said, "You think you can destroy me," the suit alleges.
According to TMZ, in October 2022 city prosecutors agreed to let Shouhed enter into a diversion program to close out his case, meaning he would not have to plead to any of the original misdemeanor charges as long as he successfully completed the program's terms.