WEBVTT - I Am the Anonymous Woman | EP 4 0:00:01.240 --> 0:00:04.840 On September eighteenth, twenty twenty three, the story hit the press. 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:10.560 The headline read baby Mama drama. Bachelor Clayton Eckerds x 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.720 fling demands he take paternity test in court case after 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.160 she becomes pregnant with twins. 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.840 My name is Diana Cooper and I am a former 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.919 reporter with the US Son and back in twenty twenty three, 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:27.840 I broke the story of Laura Owens and Clayton Eckered, 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:30.639 eliging that she was pregnant with his twins. 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:34.640 Diana received a tip an email from a woman in 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.200 Arizona with a shocking claim. 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:39.960 A lot of people on our team were like, is 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.519 it real? Like when you have to question something, it's 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:44.720 kind of like, Okay, maybe readers are going to be 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:46.120 just as interested as we are. 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:51.040 The readers were very interested. Under the headline, the Son 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.240 posted multiple pictures of Clayton from his time on The Bachelor. 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:58.040 You can imagine what this felt like for him. He 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.720 was trying to leave his Bachelor passed by. Now he 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.800 was in the spotlight again and not in a good way. 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:06.800 As soon as he saw. 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.600 The article, I put my hands on my head and 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.160 I'm like, oh my gosh, this is gonna be such 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:12.639 a mess. 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:16.840 Clayton's phone started blowing up with texts and dms. 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:19.520 It was nerve wracking at the time because I assume 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:21.800 most of these damns were going to be negative. 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.600 But they weren't all negative. One of them turned out 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:27.120 to be extremely important. 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.480 So I was just scrolling through my Instagram dms and 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:32.399 all of a sudden, I see this message from a 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:33.320 woman named Ashley. 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.120 The message came in just twenty four hours after the 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.679 story broke, and this is what it said. 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.720 Hey, you need to look into this court case. You're 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:46.440 not the only one. Look up Owen's versus Gillespie and 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:50.080 the Azy court docs. Two plus years ago. She accused 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:55.560 my boyfriend of getting her pregnant with twins. 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.720 I'm Stephanie Young and this is love trapped. 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:01.200 There's no way. 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:04.520 You'd better be. 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:09.640 I'll be raising Holy. 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:18.280 Helmes if you ever, ever, ever ever try to. 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.520 The day the news broke, Clayton was actually on his 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.280 first day of a new job, a hosting gig for 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:35.680 a local TV show called Pickleball Paddle Battle. 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:39.840 The thing is, I don't even play pickleball, but when 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.120 the opportunity came through, I figured, hey, why not, like 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.240 it'll be a fun gig, We'll have a good time 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:45.680 and I'm not going to pass us up. 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.720 The day before filming started, he posted on social media 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:53.280 saying he'd be on set that week, and then he 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.320 got an email, the kind of email he'd been getting 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.919 all summer. It was from Laura Owens. He'd come to 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:03.880 expect them, but he hadn't gotten used to them. 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:06.519 And she said, look, I'm going public if I don't 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.240 hear back from you. I've given you enough chances, but 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:11.040 now it's time for this story to be heard and 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:12.440 for people to find out who you really are. 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:16.880 He'd been issued this ultimatum a few times before, Laura 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.800 demanding he engaged with her and threatening to go public 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:24.120 if he didn't. Clayton ignored her message, but this time 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:25.840 Laura wasn't bluffing. 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.359 Laura sent us a tip to The Sun's tip line email. 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.280 That's Diana Cooper again, the one who broke the story. 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:38.200 At the time, she was writing nearly a story a 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:41.920 day for The Sun, mostly about the Bachelor when she 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.520 got the tip email from Laura Owens. It had a 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.440 lot of attachments like court documents, police reports and photos. 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:49.880 It looked legit. 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.680 In the beginning, I was convinced. I was like, Okay, 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:59.680 she had all these dates, she had proof and email. 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:02.240 Is getting ready for his first day of filming when 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:04.080 he got an email from Diana Cooper. 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:09.000 She wrote, Hey, I've been talking with Laura Owens and 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:10.920 we're going to release a story today. 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.640 At this time, Diana needed his response within the next 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:15.839 few hours. 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:18.159 I hopped on a phone call and I said, this 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:20.719 is a complete lie. This woman is lying out her teeth. 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:21.640 She has no evidence. 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.560 But Laura provided the tabloid with court documents and a 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.919 very compelling narrative. It was enough for the Sun to 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.800 run with. Diana published it that evening, and she sent 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:36.479 Clayton the link. He was on set in between filming. 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:37.599 When he opened the. 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.800 Article, I'm like, oh my gosh, what do I do. 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.640 First thing I think, I'm like, I gotta go tell 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.280 the pickleball paddle battle. I got to tell these people 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.440 like it's day one. They've all literally just met me, 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.080 and I've got to explain what's going on. I can't 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:55.840 just like breeze over this. This is going to get 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:56.760 right in front of him. 0:04:57.600 --> 0:04:59.960 He went to the show producers to explain the situation 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.240 and tell them his side of things. They held a 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:06.520 closed door discussion about how to move forward. When they 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:08.160 called him back in, they said. 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.279 We believe you, so let's just keep it rolling. And 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:13.640 that meant a lot to me, you know, Like I 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:15.920 remember just being like, well, I can't believe it. These 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:19.440 people just met me and they're going to roll with me. 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.600 So Clayton went back to filming all the while his 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:28.240 phone was in his locker buzzing NonStop with text messages 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:29.000 and calls. 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:32.520 One thing I'm really good at is compartmentalization. Unfortunately I 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.280 did it on The Bachelor. I learned it through football. 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.560 Well, Clayton was in compartmentalization mode. His friends and family 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:44.039 were all sending around the article Here's how it starts. 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.880 Bachelor Clayton Eckerds x fling has demanded he take a 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:52.000 paternity test in court documents exclusively obtained by the US Sun. 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:56.720 When Clayton got a chance to sit down and read it, 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.800 he was surprised to see that Laura hadn't used her 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:03.599 own name. She'd asked The Sun not to publish her name. 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:05.159 Here's Diana. 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.760 She said she was a podcast host, she gave ted 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:13.240 talks and She wanted me to include that information. We 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:17.920 use her age and where she's from, Arizona. 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:19.799 She just didn't want her name used. 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.159 Even though the tabloid didn't print her name, the clues 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.120 Laura provided were enough for the Internet to identify her 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:28.440 within minutes. 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:32.600 Female podcaster has a TEDx Talk lives in Scottsdale. 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:34.240 Sorry too much information. 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.839 They know your street address within a moment, like welcome 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:38.919 to the Internet. 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.320 That's Dave Neil. He's a stand up comedian and host 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:45.200 of the popular daily podcast The Rush Hour, where he 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:47.680 covers pop culture and bachelor news. 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:51.600 Good morning, everybody, Happy Thursday to you. I got all 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:53.719 your news for your rush hour ride to work. 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.919 His show has been going for almost six years, and 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:00.320 it's earned him an extremely loyal following. Was one of 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:02.520 the first people to pick up the story about Clayton. 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:06.800 My audience is so piped in that usually I'll get 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:09.040 ten messages before I even wake up. 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:10.120 When there's a story like. 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:14.360 This, Dave wasn't alone. He called Reality Steve, who'd also 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.760 been covering bachelor news for years. They'd seen a lot 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.760 of drama before, but nothing quite like this. 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:23.920 Immediately, Dave Neil and I contacted each other and we 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:28.000 were like, oh my gosh, this is crazy covering Bachelor Nation. 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:31.000 I just hadn't seen anybody involved in a paternity scandal 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.600 like this, so I was like, Dave, this is huge, 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:36.000 and Dave's like, absolutely, we got to cover this. 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:39.640 At first, they weren't sure what to make of it. 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.480 This is either the craziest story of a Bachelor villain 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.200 or the biggest scam is happening. 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:47.320 It's one or the other. 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.360 For Dave. In reality, Steve, the piece in the sun 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.240 was jaw dropping. It's just not the kind of thing 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:57.920 you read every day. In it, Clayton is adamant about 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.280 his side of things. He told old the tabloid. My 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:04.200 response is in the court documents. I'm not giving it 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.080 the time of day because it's baseless. We did not 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:11.160 have sexual intercourse that caught Dave Neil's attention. 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:14.000 I'm looking at this going this does not pass the 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:14.680 sniff test. 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.440 In the article, Laura doesn't provide any medical documentation like 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:23.880 ultrasounds or scans, but she does provide multiple text exchanges 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:27.040 with Clayton. She openly expresses that she wants to try 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:31.280 dating him. For Dave Neil. In reality, Steve Laura's apparent 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:34.480 infatuation with Clayton was an immediate red flag. 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:38.240 It read like fan fiction. It didn't make sense. 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.160 Something doesn't seem right with this story. 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.560 The red flags for me is when someone wants to 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.280 share information, but not all the information. 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.600 We knew early on. She cherry picked the hell out 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:52.360 of things, so they. 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:54.200 Started investigating Laura's claims. 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:58.840 I have to take these claims seriously for the sake 0:08:58.880 --> 0:08:59.680 of my audience. 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.280 Initially, it's a FactFinder mission. 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.320 Within a few days of the article coming out, reality 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.640 Steve tried to fill in some of the blanks by 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:11.160 reaching out to Clayton directly. 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:13.719 I got a hold of Clayton. We had about a 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:18.440 ninety minute conversation, and I believed every word of what 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.560 he told me. And it had nothing to do with oh, 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.640 just gonna side with the guy, because if Clayton seemed 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.440 shady in that phone call with me, I absolutely would 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:30.000 have called him out for it. He didn't. He told 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.640 me so many details that I'm like, there's no way 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:33.800 this guy's that good of a liar. 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:35.960 Dave Neil believed him too. 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:40.680 The reason I believe Clayton is his biggest issue on 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.040 his season was that he was too honest. 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:48.199 I heard this from so many people, including Clayton's own family. 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:53.640 One of his defining characteristics is candor, maybe even to 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.520 a fault. Here's Dave Neil again for. 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.280 Him to say, hey, no, this isn't true. That immediately, 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:05.440 you know, was like game on. Now we have a 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:09.160 story because he said, she said, which, by the way, 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.560 is the most provable thing in the world. Either she's 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.960 having these kids in their yours or they're not. Why 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:19.440 would anybody lie about that when you could prove it 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:20.280 The next. 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:24.520 Day, Dave was right, this should be a very simple 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:28.640 thing to prove. By this point, the Internet was going crazy. 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.319 The story was blowing up on Reddit, in the Bachelor 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:34.280 and Bachelor Nation subreddits. 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:37.320 I can't believe. I started to feel bad for Clayton 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.559 for all the hate that he got. Well that's gone. 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.559 If he didn't want children, he should have worn a condom. 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.240 For anyone defending Clayton in here, go okay. 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.600 I hope Y'll get full custody and child support. 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:52.400 It's confirmed that Clayton is a piece of garbage. I 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:53.960 feel for those poor babies. 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.480 I never liked him, and I guess my gut feeling was. 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:01.400 Right At first. Everyone is asumed Clayton was the bad guy. 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.880 I'll be honest, I did too. I remember seeing the 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:10.320 headline and thinking sounds about right. His reputation from The 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:14.439 Bachelor preceded him. Plus, we've worked hard as a society 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.840 to air towards believing women when they say they've been victimized. 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:21.840 I wanted to believe Laura, but the way she presented 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:24.920 her side of the story and the sun was just off. 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:27.520 People on Reddit were picking up on that too. 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:30.719 This isn't a good way to start motherhood. 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.880 If you want anonymity, then let it get settled in court. 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:37.400 Posting Clayton's text without including your own in the full 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:39.880 conversation suggest you're hiding something. 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:43.760 It sounds like this isn't really about your pregnancy, This 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.080 is about your unrequited feelings for him. 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:48.680 I really don't understand why this was brought to the 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:50.040 internet in the first place. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:54.280 Why are you desperately pursuing someone who doesn't want anything 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:55.760 to do with you. 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.880 You would claim to be so innocent, but I see 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:00.679 so many red flags on you, girl. 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.880 The cracks and Laura's story were showing. It only took 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:10.000 days for online sleuths to realize that there is a lot. 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.160 Of group think online. But the audience was about ninety 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:18.120 percent against Clayton. Immediately within the week, they were about 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:22.400 ninety nine percent for Clayton. The complete tide shifted away 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.000 from Clayton being the worst person to ever be on 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:30.280 The Bachelor to oh boy, this might be a different story. 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.320 Laura likely expected the public to be on her side 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:38.400 after coming forward, but after the Internet started poking holes 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:42.360 in her story, it seemed like going public had backfired. 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.880 A few days after she went to the tabloids, Laura 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.640 took to the Bachelor's subreddit, where she made a post 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:50.920 with this headline, read by a voice actor. 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.640 I am the anonymous woman in the Clayton scandal. Here's 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:56.640 the proof, Here's my story. 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.959 When she made this reddit post, Laura added a link. 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.000 It went to a dropbox folder filled with what Laura 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:08.880 claimed was proof of her pregnancy, mirror selfies, cropped text messages, 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:12.880 and a photo of the positive pregnancy test. The dropbox 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:14.600 link has since been deactivated. 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:17.240 As a side note, for those who are questioning whether 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:21.200 I want attention or followers, please remember I am anonymous 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.679 in this case. I don't want money from Clayton. All 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:26.320 I have asked for is communication. 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.880 By this point, the Internet had already figured out Laura's name. 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.559 This is what Dave Neil thought when he saw the 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:36.800 dropbox folder of proof that Laura posted on Reddit. 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:41.400 The fact that she was so brazen in sharing evidence 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:45.440 but wouldn't share the screenshots. The Internet is a jury, 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:47.600 and all people want to say is like, show me 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:49.120 the full story. 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:50.400 She wouldn't do that. 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:55.080 The story was becoming an Internet sensation, taking on a 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.920 life of its own. It earned some creative nicknames online, 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:03.760 like the top Twins or the Blowjob Babies, and Laura 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:08.199 was actively replying to people on Reddit and on social media. 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:12.360 She was writing comments about her alleged pregnancy. Clayton had 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:14.440 to decide how he was going to respond. 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:20.960 This woman released this publicly, thinking it was going to 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:22.720 derail me, thinking that I was going to want to 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.080 do everything in my power to keep it silent. But 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:27.480 once you open up Pandora's box, guess who's jumping in 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:27.800 with you? 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:28.320 Me? 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.440 I have been through so much shit. I was publicly 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.920 humiliated for my time as the Bachelor. I'm like, this 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:36.880 doesn't rattle me like you think it does. 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:42.120 Clayton fired back on Instagram and included a pointed message. 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:46.120 So I post a story and I said, hey, guys, 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:49.520 I'm actively in courts with this individual in the Phoenix 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.880 court system. That was me saying, do look so you 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:55.160 can find her name. And then I said, you know, 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.600 I'm not the only one. I put that story out 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.600 without doxing her, but basically like leading a hole to water. 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.480 And this really pissed Laura off. 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:08.640 She's sending like all caps emails and so she's like, 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:10.920 we gotta seal this. I'm gonna sue you. And I 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:12.480 was just like, ah, this is music to my ears 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:14.480 right now, Like I'm so annoyed that we're in this, 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:16.840 but at least for this moment, I'm like, oh yeah, Like, 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:18.680 how does it feel. Everyone just found out your name 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:20.680 and now you're in the spotlight and guess what. Now 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:22.600 it's going to be a matter of who can stand 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:24.960 the fire longer. And as far as I'm concerned, you've 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.360 never been in the fire, but I have. 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:32.400 Clayton wasn't afraid of bad press. He'd been through it before. 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:36.080 Now that the story was out, his goal was to 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:52.960 expose the truth about Laura Owens. If there's one thing 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.560 I've learned about Laura Owens while researching for this podcast, 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:00.480 It's that she doesn't back down easily, and thought the 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:04.040 public backlash might be her breaking point, but the pressure 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:08.160 only pushed her to take it a step further. On 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:12.680 September twenty second, twenty twenty three, Laura called the Scottsdale Police. 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:14.560 Here's a recording of that call. 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:17.680 Got so please bye. 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:19.320 My name is Laura Owens. 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:21.080 I am out of town right now. 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:23.360 I'm out of Arizona, but I'm trying to get an 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:28.640 emergency injunction against harassment against my ex who is celebrity 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.440 and is very publicly posting for people to look up 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.200 my cases, our current case and look at my case. 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:36.800 I have two other restraining orders against the same man, 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:41.080 and I am just desperately trying to stop it, to 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.320 stop him from continuing to post because it's getting picked 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:45.240 up from my People magazine and that's weekly. 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:46.360 I'm out in town. 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:49.000 I don't know what to do. 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.160 The Scottsdale Police followed up with Clayton. 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.240 I said, here's what I posted. I said, she's trying 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.680 to fame me. I'm a public figure, giant to worry 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:58.440 about me, I'm not going to go after this woman. 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.480 I literally don't want anything to do with her. And 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:02.880 so he was like, all right, well, she told me 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:04.840 to call you, so I told her I would. Hopefully 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.120 this will blow over for you. I said, yeah, hopefully, 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:08.040 and that was it. 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.240 But of course that wasn't it. She also hit Clayton 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.320 with the cease and desist. He kept talking about Laura 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:21.240 anyway because he knew something about her story was very wrong. Remember, 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:24.600 Clayton got that DM from a stranger named Ashley, who 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:26.560 said her boyfriend had been through the same thing with 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.520 Laura Owens. Clayton reached back out to her. 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.320 She gave me his number, and that's when Greg and 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:35.639 I first started talking. 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:40.600 His name was Greg Gillespie. Greg had experienced a remarkably 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:44.479 similar encounter with Laura two years prior. We'll hear more 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.040 about Greg's story later, but for now, Clayton was feeling 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:49.160 a rush of relief. 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.320 It almost didn't feel real. Talking to Greg was the 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:55.760 first time that I had hope. I was like, oh 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:57.480 my gosh, I'm going to be able to connect the 0:17:57.480 --> 0:17:59.960 dots and prove that this is a whole patterney Ski 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:01.560 that this woman runs. 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:06.040 Hearing Greg Gillespie's story lit a fire under Clayton. Suddenly 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:07.720 everything made sense. 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.960 I go right to the courthouse because oestly, at this point, 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:13.880 this is the most important thing in my life by far. 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:16.840 Work all these other things go by the wayside. I 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:20.239 couldn't even function anyways, Bentley, I couldn't focus. So I 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:23.639 sit down on this computer and I type in the 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:27.639 court case number and up polls all of the documents. 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.359 And so I was sitting there for probably an hour 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:31.399 to an hour and a half. 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:35.600 As Clayton sat in the courthouse reading Greg Gillespie's documents, 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.880 he realized that his case was part of a pattern. 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:41.359 One thing Greg did that I'm super grateful for was, 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:45.040 he said, I did not seal the documents because I 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:46.240 knew she was going to do it again. 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:51.720 The person who initially messaged Clayton, Ashley, was actually Greg 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:56.240 Gillespie's girlfriend now wife, and Ashley had said one other 0:18:56.320 --> 0:19:00.199 important thing at the end of her message to Clayton, you. 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.720 Have to connect with my boyfriend's lawyer if you don't 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:03.760 already have someone. 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:10.760 That lawyer was named Greg Woodnick two. Greg's confusing, I 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.800 know we're going to call this lawyer Woodnick from now on. 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:18.240 Unbeknownst to Clayton, Woodnick had already heard about his story. 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:20.840 I'm sitting at my desk one day and my law 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:24.120 clerk walked into my office with her laptop and she said, 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.840 you got to see this. And she turns around her 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:30.040 laptop and there's an article from I think the Sun 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:34.119 magazine and it describes this woman and Clayton Eckert and 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:37.439 she said, doesn't this remind you of that case you 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:40.680 worked on? And she was obviously referring to the Greg matter. 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:43.640 And I looked at the article and I go, it's 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:46.760 the same fucking person. And she said what. I go, 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.440 it's the same person. And she looked at me like quizzically, 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:51.919 and she's like, how do you know that? I go, 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:56.320 what are the chances that a podcaster from Scottsdale is 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:58.880 involved in the same sort of crap that we were 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.560 dealing with with Greg? And so I'm looking at the 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:05.520 article on my eyes A bug open and I pick 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:08.720 up my cell phone and as I go to text Greg, 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.119 the three dots pop up on my iPhone that Greg 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:12.960 is texting me. 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:18.040 Clayton took Ashley's advice and decided to reach out to Woodneck. 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:22.840 They had a great conversation, but ultimately Clayton didn't think 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:24.320 he could afford Woodneck's help. 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:29.920 I think people assumed that him coming from celebrity status, 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.080 that he had a lot of resources, and I learned 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:34.240 pretty quickly that he didn't. He was getting his feet 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.200 on the ground in the real estate market. He wasn't poor, 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:41.840 but the potential expense and legal expense dealing with Laura 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:44.560 was going to be significant. He didn't have the resources 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:45.879 to go forward, and I said, just let me know 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:47.359 if you need anything, and we kind of left it 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:47.679 at that. 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:51.640 But before they hung up the phone, wouldn't it gave 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:52.520 Clayton a warning. 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:54.920 He's like, I'll let you know what you're up against. 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:56.600 I was like, yeah, no, I'll be. 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:04.760 Fine even without legal representation. Clayton knew he had to 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:09.199 act fearing what Laura might do next, he filed for 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.640 a restraining order to hopefully put an end to the chaos. 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:15.199