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Amber Rasmussen<\/strong> and Athena Klingerman<\/strong> opened up about their abusive relationships with ex Brandon Johnson<\/strong> in Don\u2019t Date Brandon<\/em>, and they revealed the final straws in their relationships while speaking to Life & Style<\/em>.<\/p>\n Klingerman said that she dealt with \u201cinfidelity, lies, scheming [and] scamming\u201d during their relationship, though she finally decided to leave Johnson once she realized his lies bled into his work life.<\/p>\n \u201cThe very, very last thing that happened for me was calling into his work and asking to speak to him and his boss answers and says, \u2018Um, Athena, I need to ask you a serious question.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018OK.\u2019 And he says, \u2018Do you have cancer?\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh God, what is happening now?\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n Klingerman recalled learning that Johnson had been fired from his job weeks earlier. \u201cThat\u2019s when I realized my husband\u2019s been pretending to go to work every single day and [I had] no idea where he\u2019s been going. Didn\u2019t tell me the truth, but he had switched the banking information on the contracts with other companies they work with to his personal one and was trying to scheme and scam and got caught doing it,\u201d she said. \u201cI just thought, \u2018OK, nothing\u2019s ever going to change. You have no moral compass. I\u2019m done.\u2019 And I filed probably a couple of days later.\u201d<\/p>\n Starbucks Teases New Information On AI Barista<\/a><\/p>\n Following his split from Klingerman, Johnson met Rasmussen online and they quickly wed. When she finally found the courage to leave him after years of abuse, Rasmussen admitted there wasn\u2019t \u201cjust one thing\u201d that led to their split. \u201cI had moved, obviously, from Oregon to Washington, so in a sense I kind of got myself stuck up there for many years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a combination. It was faking cancer. I couldn\u2019t prove it though. It was the lies. It was the cheating. It was everything,\u201d she continued. \u201cThere were so many red flags, so many question marks. And I just knew I had to get back to Oregon. And once I got to Oregon, I knew I was close. But once you\u2019re in a cycle of abuse, it\u2019s harder than you think to get out. And so it\u2019s the ups and the downs.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until Johnson and Rasmussen were coming up on their fifth wedding anniversary that she realized she needed to leave. \u201cI kept saying, \u2018Amber, you cannot go past five years. Physically, mentally \u2026 I can\u2019t do this,\u2019\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n Now that their experiences with Johnson are in the past, Klingerman and Rasmussen are both in happy relationships. However, it wasn\u2019t easy for them to move on.<\/p>\n Starbucks Teases New Information On AI Barista<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI took a year and a half or so off of dating. I initially tried quickly to, like, make myself occupied, right?\u201d Klingerman said of her experience after their divorce. \u201cI realized, \u2018Oh my gosh, I look like a crazy person. I don\u2019t trust anybody. I think everybody\u2019s psycho.\u2019 So I immediately took that time, did a lot of counseling, dug deep, did some healing, went back out into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Klingerman eventually started dating again, and she said she met her current husband 14 months later. \u201cWe\u2019ve been together for nine years. So I feel very lucky,\u201d she shared. \u201cI don\u2019t suggest anybody leaving a psychotic relationship and jumping right into dating unless you\u2019ve done the work and you\u2019re healing or you\u2019re ready to not look like a crazy person when you start dating.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Rasmussen, she said she viewed her relationship with Johnson as \u201cthe bottom of the barrel\u201d and that \u201cit\u2019s only up from here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI just knew not to ignore those gut instincts,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been with, you know, my guy now for six plus years. And I told myself that the minute I get any inkling that I feel like I need to look at his phone, look at his computer, wonder what he\u2019s saying, then I\u2019m out. I\u2019m out. And I\u2019ve never once had that feeling. Thank goodness. So I\u2019m more secure in just trusting myself.\u201d<\/p>\n All three episodes of Don\u2019t Date Brandon<\/a><\/em> premiere on Paramount + on October 28.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n