The woman Ezekiel Elliott is accused of physically assaulting was pregnant with the star running back’s child before having an abortion in 2016, according to both Elliott and his ex-girlfriend.
Court documents from the NFL’s investigation that became public on Friday showed an interview where Tiffany Thompson revealed that Elliott impregnated her in February 2016. While speaking with NFL investigator Kia Roberts, both Elliott and Thompson said they were not ready to be parents and decided Thompson should have an abortion.
Thompson said she was pregnant with twins but lost one of the babies to a miscarriage. She then terminated the pregnancy at around 10 weeks. Thompson had the abortion in April in Chicago, which is where the NFL Draft was being held.
Thompson said she became pregnant during the same trip to Florida in which she accused Elliott of domestic violence. Elliott admitted that his relationship with Thompson changed when he found out she was pregnant, noting that he was led to believe she was on birth control.
“Well, my intention was to be done with her, but now she was pregnant with my child, so I had to somehow – I couldn’t just not talk to her, if that makes any sense,” Elliott said under oath, according to documents reviewed by Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News.
“I just made it very clear to her, we weren’t ready to have a child. … I believe she got pregnant on purpose.”
Elliott said Thompson told him she was on birth control “the whole time we were together.” Thompson testified that Elliott was “speechless” when she told him about the pregnancy. Before Thompson had the abortion, Elliott said he helped her pay for an apartment and a car lease.
Roberts is the same investigator who recommended that the NFL not suspend Elliott. The NFL recently unloaded on the NFLPA for using victim-blaming to defend Elliott, but it is clear that tactic will continue.
