Katie Porter Alleges ‘persistent Abuse,’ Files Domestic Violence Restraining Order Against Ex-boyfriend

LOS ANGELES — Outgoing Rep. Katie Porter is seeking a temporary restraining order against an ex-boyfriend, telling the court that his “persistent abuse and harassment,” including sending her and her family and staff more than 1,000 text messages and emails over three months, has caused “significant fear for [her] personal safety and well-being.”

In a petition for a domestic violence restraining order, filed Tuesday with the Orange County Superior Court, Porter alleged Julian Willis, her romantic partner of several years, sent a litany of abusive messages with the intent to cause “significant harm” to her public image.

Among the missives detailed in the filing are threats to call Child Protective Services to remove her children from her custody, attempts to extort her of thousands of dollars and “defamatory” false allegations including that she had genital herpes. (Porter submitted test results to the court to prove she does not have that sexually transmitted disease.)

Porter, in her declaration, said that Willis is dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues, which have led to Willis undergoing two involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations since 2022.

Porter said Willis had taken steps to address these issues, including attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings and staying in a sober living house in spring 2023. But she has personally witnessed him continue to abuse substances, she said in court papers.

“I have observed him misusing prescription painkillers, snorting Ritalin, and abusing cannabis and nicotine patches,” she wrote. “He has also previously disclosed to me his use of cocaine and nitrous oxide (‘whippets’).”

Willis, 55, told POLITICO in a telephone interview Tuesday that Porter sought the restraining order to preempt him from suing her and seeking protection for himself and her children — and to prevent him from going to the media.

“This is her way of combatting all that,” Willis said. He said he’s been sober for over three years, but copies of text messages filed in court along with Porter’s declaration purportedly show him acknowledging substance abuse and recommitting to sobriety in 2022.

He provided copies of communications with the University of California Irvine Police Department claiming she was “aggressive” and “violent” toward him and her children in mid-August. He asked police to supervise his move out in those communications. Porter, through a spokesperson, said she was out-of-state on the day Willis moved out and got no indication, from Willis or her neighbors, that the police had been present. POLITICO has independently requested copies of these reports from UC Irvine.

“She’s a monster,” Willis added.

The filing comes in the waning days of Porter’s final term in the House, after she ran unsuccessfully for Senate this year. The Democrat, who rocketed to national fame as a crusader against corporate power, is set to return to her post teaching law at University of California, Irvine, in January.

But Porter, 50, has remained firmly in the public eye, including actively campaigning for fellow Democrats in November, positioning herself to run for governor in 2026 when Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is termed out.

Her potential return to political life looms large in Porter’s declaration.

“He has already contacted at least three reporters to disseminate false and damaging information about me and my children. As a prominent political figure, this threat poses a serious risk to my career and personal reputation,” she wrote in the declaration.

Porter said she told Willis to move out of her home and stop contacting her in late August, even threatening court intervention to force him to leave. He moved out on Aug. 23 but continued to send up to dozens of messages a day, according to the legal filing. Willis said his goal was to force her into “prolonged psychiatric treatment” and threatened to “punish the fuck out of you,” she said in the declaration.

“If you don’t fully comprehend what is transpiring, right now, let me spell it out for you. The noose is tightening around Katie’s neck,” Willis wrote in an email Monday to Porter’s son and ex-husband, which he then forwarded to her attorney, according to the filings. He stated he “would bring the hammer down on Katie and smash her and her life into a million pieces.”

Porter included that email and copies of dozens of other texts and emails in a 22-page document accompanying her declaration. The messages include contemporaneous mention of Willis’ hospitalizations and outreach from work associates, including at least one member of Congress, reporting that they received disturbing messages from Willis.

Willis’ outreach extended to Sen. Elizabeth Warren and her husband. Warren was Porter’s mentor at Harvard, and Willis requested to speak with the senator about the situation, according to court exhibits and other documentation.

Porter requested a judge issue a no-contact and stay-away order, requiring Willis to keep at least 100 yards distance from her home, workplace and children’s schools. She also requested the restraining order cover her three children, whose ages range from 12 to 18, and her 78 year-old mother.

Porter also said that Willis has contacted “dozens” of current and former work colleagues who say they find the messages “disturbing,” “threatening” or “abusive,” and named 15 co-workers or family members that she requested Willis be ordered not to communicate with.

“This is a very unfortunate situation," Porter said in a statement to POLITICO. "Mr. Willis has suffered from well-documented mental health and substance abuse issues. As the records filed today show, those issues have gotten increasingly worse since I ended the relationship and asked him to leave my house. In recent weeks, his threats against my family and my colleagues have escalated in both their frequency and intensity, and I feel I must ask for this order from the court. I sincerely hope he can get the help he needs.”

Willis had previously made headlines in July 2021 after he was involved in a violent scuffle at a Porter town hall in Irvine, which was disrupted by far-right protesters. Willis was arrested and given a citation before he was released. Porter later had harsh words for the Irvine police response, calling the force “a disgrace” in a leaked text exchange between her and the city’s mayor.

Porter’s personal life has been subject to public scrutiny before. She proactively released the filings from her divorce with ex-husband, Matthew Hoffman, to the Huffington Post, after a whisper campaign about the end of her marriage threatened to upend her first House run in 2018.

Porter filed a restraining order against Hoffman in 2013 after he allegedly punched a wall next to her, shattering a light switch plate. He then filed a reciprocal restraining order, alleging that Porter was also verbally and physically abusive. (One allegation, that she dumped a bowl of boiling potatoes on his head, got a burst of media coverage during this year’s Senate race.)

In her 2023 memoir, Porter wrote about her internal conflict over speaking out about the end of her marriage. While she saw it as a political necessity, her children struggled with the public airing of the details of the end of her message. She said her decision was “the only thing in that I’ve done in politics that I’m ashamed of.”

“Being a real person and having a real life is in fundamental conflict with American politics. There is no way I could’ve kept my privacy about domestic violence in my family and gotten elected. There were real costs to telling my story, and even as I pretended otherwise, I knew I was making a choice between my kids and my campaign.”

Emily Schultheis contributed to this report.