Horse chefs Elizabeth Johnson and Will Aghajanian bitter divorce new allegations

New details have emerged in the bitter divorce battle between the chefs at a popular Los Angeles restaurant, as they continue to accuse each other of horrific acts, including animal abuse.

Elizabeth Johnson, 32, and Will Aghajanian, 31, the chefs behind the celebrity spot Horses, came to national attention earlier this month after she claimed he tortured and killed her cat in a divorce filing. .

In documents filed last November, Johnson testified that Aghajanian had emotionally and physically abused her, and filed for a domestic violence restraining order, saying she feared for both her safety and the couple’s dogs because she knew “up to 14 animals “. he had abused.

Johnson claimed that she did not realize that Aghajanian was abusing and killing the animals because she had been psychologically abused by her explanations for the deaths.

Now, a fuller picture of their relationship has emerged, with the publication of New York magazine grub street reporting additional disturbing details of the couple’s history, which is littered with allegations of animal abuse and cruelty.

Aghajanian has blamed Johnson for the pet deaths and claims he was the one who was abused, claiming in a court filing that Johnson bragged about his father catching squirrels to drown them.

Along with the court filing, Aghajanian submitted screenshots of text messages with Johnson, including one in which he threatened to kill his dog Pancho.

In a 2018 text, Johnson wrote: ‘If I get famous, will anyone find out about pancskes? [sic] or the cats.

‘No. I love you,’ Aghajanian replied.

The shocking report includes testimony from sources who claimed to have witnessed Aghajanian’s alleged taste for animal cruelty and history of racist remarks.

People who worked with Aghajanian at the Per Se restaurant in New York told Grub Street that Aghajanian insisted on buying live turtles and slaughtering them himself.

Former colleagues at Nashville’s Catbird restaurant claimed he once brought in a box of frozen rabbits and instructed his staff to cut the animals’ skulls and brains out as part of a “project.”

When an employee said he was done with the project, Aghajanian reportedly said he just wanted to know “for how long would everyone be doing this.”

At the same restaurant, he allegedly told the staff that the only allergies there are to shellfish and nuts and to ignore all other allergies. Aghajanian is also accused of saying that “Hitler had some pretty good ideas” during his time at Catbird.

The couple were fired from the restaurant after complaints that they were fighting in the kitchen and that Aghajanian was abusive of both Johnson and the staff.

During his time at Mimi’s restaurant in New York, Aghajanian regularly verbally abused Johnson, and a former co-worker said she saw him burn Johnson with a pair of hot tongs.

In his divorce petition, Aghajanian claimed that it was Johnson who intentionally burned him after he went on a rampage over the overcooked chicken, leaving him with a scar. A source close to Johnson denied the claim.

In addition to the abuse allegations, the couple’s former co-workers also said their cats always seemed to die mysteriously. While working on Mimi, three cats died without explanation.

“I remember saying to them something like: ‘This is getting weird. Maybe you shouldn’t keep trying to get cats,'” a former colleague told Grub Street.

The couple also died of a cat while working at Catbird of Nashville. Former co-workers told the outlet that they thought it was strange that they had a cat because Aghajanian was open about his disdain for animals.

Aghajanian has denied any wrongdoing mentioned in the Grub Street exhibit.

Johnson and Aghajanian met as interns at the Noma restaurant in Copenhagen before getting engaged in 2013 and moving to New York.

Aghajanian remains on Horse’s payroll but stepped away from day-to-day operations as Johnson took control.

Johnson also requested that Aghajanian remain 100 yards away from his dogs, Pancho, Javi and Spud, according to the document.

In their November divorce papers, Johnson said Aghajanian alleged that in 2019, Aghajanian dragged her across the floor by her legs as she screamed and tried to resist.

The filing alleges that Aghajanian has been responsible for the deaths of his two cats.

Will and I have had cats that have mysteriously ended up dying, including one in 2017 that I took to a shelter when she was severely injured overnight. The shelter told me that she had been severely abused, but Will denied it.

I believed him. Then last month we got another kitten,’ he wrote detailing how it wasn’t long before that kitten died too, after he said he didn’t like her.

Johnson and Aghajanian’s Horses restaurant opened in September 2021, receiving rave reviews and becoming an instant celebrity favorite.

It was on Eater LA’s ‘heat map’ of the ‘hottest new restaurants’ for months and the Los Angeles Times called it ‘a new hip LA institution’ and ‘the city’s most exciting new dining experience in recent years’. anus’.