Nikkole Paulun posts photos of ex Josh cutting himself, terrified of his potential release

As we reported last month, 16 & Pregnant star Nikkole Paulun’s ex Joshua Drummonds was arrested in Texas and charged with attempting to choke someone he was living with (Assault of a Family or House Member: Impeding the Breathing or Circulation). In his mug shot photo, Josh can be seen wearing a safety smock, which is used by police when there is concern that an inmate may attempt to harm himself. Clearly, the situation with Josh was really bad, but judging from recent posts by Nikkole, which include graphic photos of Josh cutting himself, the situation was much worse than anyone expected.

Nikkole posted a series of photos on Instagram, three of which showed Josh with a roughly seven-inch cut along the inside of his forearm. The cut was bleeding profusely in the photos, which Nikkole reveals were sent to her as an attempt to get her to respond to his text messages and allow him to return to Michigan. “Please answer,” Josh wrote before sending one of the photos. And after another he wrote “I cut it again. It maybe to late.”

The photos have since been removed from Instagram. It is unclear if they were deleted by Nikkole, or if they were removed by Instagram for being too graphic. Here is a censored version of the least graphic photo, which shows Josh in a tub with his bleeding arm extended:

In addition to the pictures, Nikkole shared HARROWING details about her relationship with Josh, the father of her seven-year-old son Lyle. Here is Nikkole’s post in its entirety, with only a few minor edits (paragraph breaks, etc.):

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Let me start by saying I never thought I would share this and it is taking a lot of courage in me to do so. My intentions are that I could possibly help someone going through a similar situation.

So I never shared on Instagram that I got back together with my son’s father, but if you followed me on other social media like Snapchat or twitter then you probably knew. I kept the whole relationship relatively private. Just because I knew from the start there would be a ton of judgement.

For those who don’t know the back story, we got together when I was 13, I was pregnant at 15, had my son a month after I turned 16. He treated me like dirt, cheated on me etc. For years we were on & off. In 2012 he went to prison for 3 years and got out January of 2016… which is when we got back together. I truly thought he had changed and prison had given him a positive outlook on life.

Several months into being back together, things started changing for the worst (as always 🙁 ) I know I was a fool for thinking he would change. Joshua suffers from a mental illness deeper than I could’ve ever imagined. One that he chooses to medicate with drugs. He has yet to be properly diagnosed so I can’t tell you what it is, I can just tell you it’s very, very horrible. (My best guess is manic bipolar) He would go weeks & months being completely normal & a great father & a great boyfriend. Then one day, a switch would flick, & he would be gone.

I’ve received a call in the middle of the night to come to a hospital in Detroit because he had just been saved from overdosing, all while I thought he was at work. I’ve been called to pick him up from his friend’s house because he wasn’t breathing. I can’t tell you the panic I felt driving to that house. The panic I felt watching this person who I no longer knew but still loved, being plopped into my car with blue lips & gasping for breath. Driving as fast as I could towards a hospital in complete shock, slapping his face & screaming his name hoping he would wake up. Calling 911 and begging them to have someone ready to get him out of my car at the hospital. Having a whole crew of people rush out and drag his lifeless body out of my car and save his life, only for him to continue not to care about it himself.

After months of failed rehab attempts, things & money being stolen, bill money being spent, & being threatened, I said goodbye. The next time he left, I just locked the doors. I didn’t call to ask where he was or if he was okay, he wouldn’t have answered anyway… not until he was done getting high at least.

Things only got worse for me though. On night 2 of him showing up & knocking on my door and me not answering, he threw a giant rock through my living room window and climbed in. I was terrified and dialed 911 and set my phone in my pocket. I acted like everything was okay to protect myself. The cops showed up & you know what they did? Nothing. They told me “he lives here, you can’t get into trouble for breaking into your own home.” I cried so hard that night. I felt so hopeless. I thought I would never get out of this hell that I’m living in.

[Above: Photo of Nikkole’s broken window after Josh busted it with a rock and climbed in.]

The police took him to my mom’s (thank god because at this point I hadn’t told her anything) & he told her everything. My mom, my angel, made it her goal to protect me. She let him stay with her. When he didn’t, she stayed with me. She made sure he wouldn’t get to me or the kids.

A week later, with nowhere to go, he was offered a new life in Texas. (Again, thank you God). The leaving process was ugly, but it happened. He left. I kept in touch and told him I hope he gets a fresh start. A month or so in, he facetimed me and told me he was killing himself if I didn’t let him come home & proceeded to cut his arm on FaceTime with me (I screenshotted to show his family how serious everything was).

This is just a tiny sliver of the mental manipulation he used on me. Cops were called, he went missing, he was found, taken to the hospital, refused treatment, came back to where he was staying, & strangled his family member until they passed out. Now before I say this I am sooo sorry for that family member, and she’s tough and is okay and is over it now, but y’all that would’ve been me.

But I honestly don’t think he would stop with me. & my kids could’ve seen this. I’m so thankful I kicked him out and had my family to protect me. So thankful. But now in less than 2 weeks he has court and I’m so so scared he will be released & will try coming back here to my home. I know he needs help but he doesn’t want it. I already have plans in place if he does, but it hurts my heart to think that me and the kids won’t be able to stay in our own house all because of him.

If anyone is going through something similar, please feel free to reach out. This is why I’ve been so inactive everywhere. The whole relationship was extremely depressing for me and I’m just now getting back to my happy self. ❤️

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That is TERRIFYING! Josh is the one of the few people I have ever seen on reality TV that truly frightened me. He was just so emotionless and cruel at times. Judging by what Nikkole wrote, he does have his good days, but in no way could they make up for his “bad days.” I hope for Nikkole’s sake, and anyone else that may come in contact with Josh, that he either remains behind bars or gets the help that he desperately needs — or both.

At the time of this post, Josh is still behind bars in Texas being held on a $5,000 bond. As Nikkole said, he is scheduled for a hearing in less than two weeks. We will keep an eye on his case and update when we know more.