Rumors continue to swirl claiming The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills‘ Taylor Armstrong is currently dating fellow Bravo reality star and former University of Texas quarterback Matt Nordgren of Most Eligible Dallas. As a result the media spotlight has turned its focus on Matt, and amongst the shadows in his closet a small skeleton has been discovered!
In October of 2003, while Matt was a student and backup quarterback at The University of Texas, he was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, after he allegedly damaged a fellow student’s car after an altercation outside the Jester Center dormitory. Also involved in the alleged attack was Matt’s roommate, and Texas starting cornerback, Cedric Griffin, who was charged with interference with an emergency telephone after allegedly slapping the victim’s phone out of his hand as he tried to call police.
The incident occurred on September 21 around 3:30 a.m., approximately four hours after the Texas Longhorns football team beat Rice 48-7.
From the American-Statesmen (The University of Texas newspaper):
An arrest warrant affidavit says the incident started when the two football players pulled a Lexus sport utility vehicle behind Jonathan Allen’s parked Volkswagen at Jester Center. Allen, a 21-year-old senior majoring in physics, told police he was sitting in the car waiting for a friend when the football players flashed their lights at him, pulled up beside his car and yelled at him to get out.
According to the affidavit Matt Nordgren and Cedric Griffin told Jonathan Allen, “You want to get out of the car? You want to take this outside?”
Allen told police he was waiting on a girl at the time and didn’t know what prompted the altercation. The girl later arrived and got into the vehicle with Allen.
Allen told police that as he began to leave, Nordgren got out of the Lexus, which is registered to Nordgren’s parents, and kicked the rear of his car, causing at least $900 in damage. When Allen tried calling police, Griffin reached into the Volkswagen and knocked the phone from his hand, according to the court documents. The police affidavit stated that the student believed he was in “fear of imminent assault” from Griffin.
According to the affidavit, Griffin then got into the driver’s seat of the Lexus and drove off, picking up Nordgren shortly thereafter.
Allen said he had no idea who Nordgren or Griffin were, but assumed they were football players because of their attire. “They were both wearing bright orange UT jumpsuits,” he said. “I just looked them up on the roster and then looked them up on the directory.”
Allen also said he tried to get Nordgren and Griffin to pay for the damages to his car and phone before deciding to press charges. During one of his conversations with Nordgren the third string QB told him that on the night of the incident he was frustrated because he didn’t get to play in the team’s blowout win earlier that evening. Allen recalls Matt saying, “We had just got back from the game, and I thought I should’ve gotten to play.”
Allen later dropped the charges. (I’m going to go out on a limb and say the multi-billion dollar empire that is Longhorn football decided they would pay for the damages to Allen’s car, and I’m guessing they might have even gotten him a shiny new cell phone. What do you think?)
Either way, it appears as though 21-year-old Matt Nordgren had a bit of a temper problem. Let’s hope he has mellowed since then because obviously the last thing in the world Taylor Armstrong needs after being in an abusive relationship for so many years is a man with anger management issues! And let’s remember that Matt is a serial reality star dater having previously been an item with The Hills’ Audrina Patridge and The Bachelor‘s Vienna Girardi! (You can find out all about that and see photos of Matt with his previous reality flings in our profile post HERE.)
In case you were wondering, the Matt Nordgren/Taylor Armstrong dating rumors began early this month when word got out the two had spent the weekend of September 23 together at various events in and around Dallas. At the time Matt insisted he and Taylor were just friends, but after the couple were spotted together once again at The Cattle Baron’s Ball this past weekend everyone began doubting the Platonic nature of their relationship.
Matt and best friend with sometimes benefits (and Most Eligible Dallas co-star) Courtney Kerr were on Watch What Happens: Live Monday night and Matt seemed a bit nervous as he continued to dodge questions about his relationship with Taylor. Courtney, on the other hand, was obviously hinting there was something more going on. Later Andy Cohen asked Courtney directly whether or not there was more going on than what Matt was letting on, to which Courtney replied that Andy was a psychic.
During the WWHL after show, the topic came up again when a caller asked in both Courtney and Matt were dating again after their failed attempt at turning their friendship into something more romantic, to which Courtney replied, “I’ve gone on dates.” And then she said to Matt, “And you have too. I mean, obviously.”
Matt responded with silence before mustering a weak, “Wow.”
“Wow” indeed!
UPDATE – Matt Nordgren has since talked with RumorFix.com to clear the air about his “violent” past.
Matt doesn’t deny the incident happen. In fact, he says he settled out of court of $1,000. He claims the student was blocking the road, they argued — Matt claims the guy almost ran him over so he was upset and kicked the side of his car. The guy came out — and Matt’s buddy knocked the cellphone out of his hand and broke it.
“Never did we touch him,” he says. “We didn’t hit him. My hand never touched any part of his body. I never got arrested. I never got charged with anything.”
Matt also professes to have a squeaky clean record: “Never have I seen handcuffs in my life. Never once in my life have I seen a jail. Never once in my life have I been to court. Never. Never one time!”
Strangely, Matt didn’t say anything to “Rumor Fix” about the rumor he and Taylor are dating. Hmmmmm….
