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The Bachelorette's Chad Johnson Speaks Out After His Arrest and Denies Domestic Abuse

Bachelor Nation’s Chad Johnson is speaking out after he was arrested earlier this week following an argument with his girlfriend.

In a lengthy video posted to Instagram on Thursday, Johnson — who competed on JoJo Fletcher‘s season of The Bachelorette as well as Bachelor in Paradise — detailed the incident and apologized for his behavior, which ultimately led to his arrest on robbery with domestic violence enhancement charges.

“Hey everyone, this is Chad Johnson and I wanted to take a second to talk to you about the current situation you’ve probably seen going on in the press with me arrested for robbery,” Johnson, 32, began.

“So me and my girlfriend broke up the other night and I was devastated. I mean, it was like losing my best friend,” he said about Annalise Mishler. “So I did what I haven’t done in two months and something I promised I wouldn’t do anymore and that was to drink alcohol. I made a promise to myself and my girlfriend I wouldn’t do that anymore and as most of you know that’s been a bit of an issue in my life. Whenever I do drink, I don’t act right. So I screwed up and I drank and I went over to talk to her.”

Johnson explained that he and Mishler “live in the same apartment complex — not the same apartment, but very close by.”

“So I went over there and trying to talk things out and initially we had worked things out and we were back together, everything was fine, until she discovered that I had — in between us breaking up and me drinking — downloaded a dating app and I had started to receive messages on there. So we had some arguments and she was yelling, I was yelling. I would go to my place, she would knock on my door; I’d go to her place, knock on her door. In the end, I ended up going home,” he said.

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“The next day,” Johnson said he went to Mishler’s apartment “to try to talk things out.”

Ahead of Johnson’s arrest, Mishler had reportedly documented the alleged fight in a series of since-deleted posts on her Instagram Story.

The posts, which were captured by television writer Reality Steve, alleged that Johnson had punched a visible hole through her wall. The videos also showed Johnson allegedly “screaming” outside of her door and trying to get inside. According to Mishler’s videos, Johnson allegedly yelled “I hope you f—ing die” through the door. In the clips, Mishler said the alleged fight started after she found notifications from a dating app on his phone.

Though Johnson said he “saw that she had posted the videos,” he said in his apology video that “I wasn’t mad at her — I totally understand why she did that. I still love her very much. I totally get it.”

“But I tried to talk things out and we still had the issues with the dating app and then she came over to my place and she kept recording me. I was very down at the time, I was very upset and I just didn’t want to be recorded,” he continued, before admitting he took her phone and threw it. “So I made a stupid decision and I grabbed her phone and I just threw it, I threw it outside.”

Chad Johnson | Chad Johnson/Instagram
Chad Johnson | Chad Johnson/Instagram

He then proceeded to go “back over to her place to apologize and I was knocking on the door there, that’s when one of the neighbors apparently had called the police.”

On Tuesday, a spokesperson with the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to PEOPLE that Johnson was arrested Monday afternoon on robbery with domestic violence enhancement charges.

According to TMZ, which first reported the news, Mishler said he had gotten physical with her and officers found visible red marks on her face. The outlet reported that Johnson was charged with robbery because he allegedly grabbed her phone away while she called 911.

Chad Johnson | Chad Johnson/INSTAGRAM
Chad Johnson | Chad Johnson/INSTAGRAM

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Reflecting on incident, Johnson said in his video, “Now if you don’t know the law in California, the law in California is if there’s a domestic disturbance, somebody has to go to jail. So I was taken to jail for that and while she was talking to them she told them about how I had thrown her phone and so that was the robbery issue.”

Despite the domestic violence enhancement that was part of his charges, Johnson assured that “there was never any domestic abuse of any kind.”

“I have never laid hands on a woman anytime in my entire life. I was in the Marine Corps, I was taught core values, I have a sister, I am a very overprotective brother — if she ever felt in danger, I would want her to call. If any women out there ever feel like they are in any danger, I urge you to call 911. I can totally understand why Annalise felt threatened whenever I took her phone, but I am 100 percent confident any type of domestic abuse charges are going to be dropped because there was never any type of domestic abuse at all whatsoever. Never laid my hands on a woman,” he said.

Chad Johnson | Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images
Chad Johnson | Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images

Johnson then apologized for his actions and extended his remorse to Mishler about the situation.

“I’m sorry for the entire situation. I’m sorry for anybody who had to see it, who’s been triggered by this. I am so sorry to Annalise for feeling threatened,” he said, and concluded, “I’m working on myself to get better. All I can do is put my best foot forward and try to be a better person every day from here on out and make less mistakes in life,” he said.

He concluded by asking people to “not be so quick to take judgment.”

“And I hope that everyone out there can not be so quick to take judgment,” he said. “Hopefully this explains a little bit of the situation and there can be some understanding.”