Chelsea Houska long ago established a reputation for herself as one of the most wholesome, scandal-free stars of the Teen Mom franchise.
But these days, Houska finds herself embroiled in the first major controversy of her career.
And the timing couldn’t be worse.
We’re just months away from the premiere of Chelsea’s HGTV show, but instead of promoting their latest project, Houska and husband Cole De Boer are dealing with a lawsuit that has the potential to very costly.
As we’ve previously reported, Chelsea and Cole are being sued by a consulting company they partnered with called Envy.
The company is demanding $3 million in damages, alleging that the DeBoers lied about how much they earned from social media promotions orchestrated by Envy.
Envy’s owners allege that Chelsea and Cole used their businesses to hide these earnings, and their latest filing shows how serious they are about coming after the DeBoers.
According to a new report from UK tabloid The Sun, the owners of Envy have amended their suit and are now suing the DeBoers as individuals, and the four companies the couple owns.
That means that Chelsea and Cole’s furniture company Down Home DeBoer, their decor business Aubree Says, Dakota Ln LLC, and the DeBoer Holding Company are all now named in the lawsuit.
If nothing else, the suit threatens to damage the DeBoers reputation as a couple of down-home, relatable blue collar types.
After all, most fans probably didn’t realize that in addition to their TV stardom, Chelsea and Cole own four businesses, including a freakin’ holding company, which is basically a company that exists for the sole purpose of acquiring and owning other companies.
Of course, most fans are unlikely to care about the fact that the DeBoers appear to be fabulously wealthy.
(After all, Chelsea’s net worth has been in the seven-figure range since her early twenties, and that never hurt her popularity.)
The real threat here — aside from the very real chance that these two will lose $3 million — is the possibility that HGTV or other future partners will decide that the allegations make doing business with Chelsea and Cole a liability.
Lawsuits and allegations of fraud tend to garner negative publicity.
And television execs tend to be a very risk-averse bunch.
Chelsea and Cole have not commented publicly on the lawsuit, but you can bet they’re concerned.
After all, these two are on the verge of leveling up in their careers, and this scandal has the potential to ruin everything.
We’ll have further updates on this developing story as more information becomes available.
Chelsea Houska Sued For Millions Amid Fraud Allegations was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip .