A Los Angeles model who says she dated Andrew Tate for 10 months and alleges in a lawsuit that the online influencer threatened and abused her said she feared for her life during a violent sexual encounter with him this month.
“I was scared to death,” Brianna Stern told NBC News on Friday. “So scared I was terrified that I might die.”
Stern, in her first interview since filing the lawsuit Thursday, said she has received online threats after coming forward about her experience dating Tate, a self-described misogynist and anti-feminist with millions of followers on social media.
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“I’m scared of him,” Stern said, adding, “No one has ever really spoken out against him before.”
Stern declined to speak directly about the complaint, which was filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles and accuses Tate, 38, of sexual assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
A lawyer for Tate on Friday denied Stern’s allegations as “unfounded and sensational.”
She said she first met Tate and his brother, Tristan, when they invited her last summer to Romania to participate in photo shoots related to content creation for their cryptocurrency meme coin.
At the time, the Tate brothers, both former kickboxers and dual U.S.-British citizens, were embroiled in accusations related to sexual misconduct in Britain and human trafficking and money laundering in Romania, which they have vigorously denied.
Stern said she was unaware of the media coverage about Tate.
“He was so warm and loving and kind, and I hadn’t seen anything on the internet about him,” she said. “I guess I kind of live under a rock.”
She said that she continued to communicate with Tate when she left Romania and went home to Los Angeles and that his declarations of love and seeing a future with her won her over.
“I thought these people that say negative things about him, like, that’s crazy,” Stern said. “They don’t know him. And he told me everything on the internet was just a facade. There was a tough guy act that he had to put on for views, and that that equated to his income.”
In the suit, Stern claims Tate’s behavior “grew more aggressive over time,” and “the last incident was the worst.” On March 10, the suit says, the couple checked into a room at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where they were having consensual sex early the following morning. Tate then began to choke her, and she “began crying and begging for him to stop. He would not,” according to the complaint.
Tate continued to choke and beat her repeatedly on her face and the top of her head, and days later she was diagnosed with a concussion after seeking medical attention while in New York, according to the complaint.
Stern is seeking an immediate restraining order against Tate.
Tate’s U.S.-based attorney, Joseph McBride, rejected the lawsuit and Stern’s allegations in a statement Friday and said he would be pursuing “all available legal avenues against those perpetuating these baseless claims.”
McBride accused Stern of using Tate for “personal gain, notoriety, and financial benefit,” including through the rising value of her own meme coin.
“We implore the public and the media to refrain from premature judgments until all facts are established and to resist the temptation to amplify the self-serving narrative of an individual seemingly more interested in profit than in justice,” he added.
Stern’s suit said she filed a police report in Beverly Hills earlier this week stemming from the alleged physical assault. A criminal investigation involving Tate is underway, two law enforcement sources told NBC News.
Stern said she waited to go to Beverly Hills police until Tate was out of the U.S. when “I did feel a sense of security.”
In a statement to NBC News, Stern’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, said she “has demonstrated incredible courage to come forward and make her voice heard. I look forward to presenting the facts of this case in court.”
Stern’s suit also includes text messages she said Tate sent her over the course of their relationship. One allegedly reads: “I will ruin your life, rape you … and kill you.”
In another text, Tate allegedly wrote: “You back talk too much whore so I beat you. I will hit you today. But I love you,” according to the suit.
A third exchange in the suit allegedly shows Stern questioning Tate: “Why do u want to beat me. It’s 12:30 am I’m in the room I sleep soon.”
“What’s the point in having you if I don’t beat you and impregnate you. You should be thankful,” Tate responded, according to the complaint.
NBC News has not independently verified the authenticity of the text messages included in the court documents. It’s also not clear what communications came before and after the messages included in the lawsuit.
Stern is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
Tate and his brother, Tristan, left the U.S. for Romania on Saturday, according to reports. The brothers had been in the U.S. since late February, when Romanian officials lifted a travel ban.
The ban had been in place in the wake of their arrest in Romania in late 2022 on charges of human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women. The brothers have denied all allegations. The timing of the ban’s lifting led to speculation that the State Department or the White House helped the brothers, who are supporters of President Donald Trump, but the administration declined to comment and McBride also declined to comment last month.
Upon their arrival in the U.S., the brothers received a cold reception from officials in Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis immediately said the brothers were not welcome in the state, and Attorney General James Uthmeier said he would open a criminal investigation into the men, although he did not outline specific allegations.
After leaving the U.S., the Tate brothers returned to Romania, where they have resided since 2017.
On Monday, the brothers appeared at a police station to register as part of the judicial requirements in their criminal case.
“I’m a free person who has not been convicted of anything,” Andrew Tate said, according to The Associated Press, adding that he will “comply with all judicial authorities everywhere around the world because I’m completely innocent.”
Tate is the focus of other ongoing lawsuits, including one in Britain filed by four women accusing him of rape and abuse, and a countersuit in the U.S. filed last month in Florida by a woman claiming the Tate brothers coerced her into sex work in Romania. The brothers had initially filed a defamation suit against her in 2023 claiming she and another woman gave false evidence to Romanian authorities, which had led to their prior arrests.
The brothers have denied the allegations against them in those suits, and contend they are being targeted because they are outspoken.
Stern said that while she remains scared for her safety, the encouragement she has received from family and friends prompted her to go public.
“I’m hoping that I can encourage other women to find their voice, to walk away and to be strong,” she said.
NBC News' Austin Mullen contributed.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center. You can also access RAINN’s online chat service at https://www.rainn.org/get-help.
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