TLC Star Karen Derrico's Ex-Husband Details Her Alleged Threats About Kids

Doubling Down With the Derricos alum Deon Derrico claims that his ex-wife, Karen Derrico, threatened his and their children's lives.

"She didn't specify which one. It was a brawl. Like, ‘I'll kill y'all. I'll go to jail for it. I'll gladly go to jail for it,'" Deon, 42, exclusively claimed to Us Weekly after Karen, 46, was arrested for the alleged threats earlier this month. "That was said several times."

Deon and Karen, who share 14 children, divorced in 2024 after two decades of marriage. As the pair attempted to coparent their kids, Deon eventually heard about Karen's reported threats through the kids themselves.

"When they told me, I'd addressed it with her, like, ‘You can't never do that. I don't care. You can never tell your children you would kill them,'" he told Us. "Her words were, ‘Well, my mother said that to me,' and I said, ‘Your mother did not tell you she would kill you. I know your mother, she didn't say that.'"

According to Deon, it's "very common" in the Black community to hear certain phrases that could be classified as threatening.

"A mother or father would say, ‘I brought you into this world, I'll take you out.' Not meaning it, literally," he explained. "[They were] basically saying, ‘I brought you into this world, you better respect me.'"

After hearing Karen's alleged comments, Deon told her that she could no longer threaten to harm the kids because the "times have changed."

"She said, ‘You're right, I apologize.' And then, when I'm gone, the children tell me that she did it again," Deon alleged. "She did it several more times, but they didn't even tell me immediately out of fear of how I would retaliate as far as having them getting her in trouble or something like that. I just couldn't believe she said it. I was in total disbelief."

Deon also claimed that Karen verbally threatened his life.

"If you say that to your own biological children that you birthed, who am I? I didn't like that she said it to me," he said. "She also admitted to a couple of witnesses … that she wished she had a gun, she would shoot me."

According to Deon, he didn't think Karen would physically shoot him because of her "small frame."

"I felt she would do [it], not necessarily herself," he claimed to Us. "If it was just pound for pound, she couldn't match me. I feel she would lean on a man, like how you see on these different shows with these women who go to a man and say, ‘Oh, I just feel bad because I'm so terrified.

When he walks around, I think I'm gonna die.' Then the man says, ‘I love you. I'm gonna protect you.' Then, the man goes and kills the person."

Deon, who believes that Karen is "manipulative," further told Us that he has tried "to be amicable" following their divorce. The two continued to live together in the family home post-split.

Karen was arraigned on charges of harassment, violating a restraining order, preventing a witness from testifying through threat of violence and aggravated stalking on Tuesday, June 23, where she pleaded not guilty.

"The allegations are completely false," her attorney Jess Marchese told Oxygen in a statement. "And we will prove they were completely fabricated by Mr. Derrico."

Karen was released on a $2,000 bond and outfitted with an ankle monitor ahead of her next hearing on Thursday, August 6.

Karen has not publicly addressed Deon's accusations, while attorney Marchese further shut down the claims.

"We are in the process of proving that these emails are crude forgeries by the supposed victim and never sent by my client," Marchese told Us in a statement. "We have retained a forensic expert who is uncovering vast inconsistencies in the his story."

Us Weekly has reached out to TLC for comment.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support. If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.

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This story was originally published June 26, 2026 at 1:55 PM.