Inside HGTV Star Chelsea DeBoer's Legal And Financial Issues
The stunningly transformed Chelsea DeBoer is most known as a reality TV star, appearing in 10 seasons of MTV's "Teen Mom 2" before going on to star in the HGTV series "Down Home Fab" with her husband Cole DeBoer. Though the South Dakota native has experienced a fair share of success, it hasn't come without its own setbacks. Starting in 2020, Chelsea was at the center of a lawsuit waged by Envy, a consulting and branding agency that signed her in 2015 and her husband in 2016.
The New York-based company originally sued the couple for $3 million in April 2020, later amending the amount to $4 million. Court documents obtained by The Sun claim that Envy was responsible for negotiating brand deals on behalf of the DeBoers in exchange for fees and royalties. They claim that "Chelsea and Cole breached their contracts by directing certain Brands to directly pay Chelsea, Cole, one of the other Shared Clients, and/or other persons or entities to avoid paying Envy Licensing Fees."
The allegations resulted in a years-long, back-and-forth legal battle between the DeBoers and Envy Branding. As reported by The Ashley's Reality Round-Up, the legal deliberations finally came to an end in April 2024, with the DeBoers receiving some relieving news.
Chelsea DeBoer countersued in May 2020
Chelsea and Cole DeBoer denied the claims made by Envy Branding in their lawsuit, issuing a counterclaim in May 2020. The couple accused the agency of withholding $150,000 worth of earnings while also claiming that they "actually harmed the professional careers of Defendants Chelsea and Cole by withholding considerable payments from them and acting in an unprofessional manner" (per The Sun).
The couple's legal team moved to get the lawsuit dismissed, with Chelsea outlining the deterioration of her relationship with Envy Branding in her Declaration. The interior designer revealed that the company failed to consistently deliver account statements starting in 2016, with the few documents that they presented reportedly being filled with inaccuracies and errors. Chelsea claimed that both she and her management team reached out to Envy for the proper financial statements without success.
"Envy failed to issue any further statements despite its continued receipt of payments from brands from 2017 to August 2019 for work Cole and I performed," Chelsea stated in the legal document. "In light of Envy's breach of its contractual obligations and refusal to communicate, it became clear that the relationship was no longer viable and that Envy could no longer be my branding agent" (per The Sun).
Envy went after Chelsea's MTV earnings
In Envy Branding's lawsuit against Chelsea and Cole DeBoer, the consulting agency attempted to claim a portion of the couple's earnings from their time on MTV. The HGTV star originally appeared on "16 & Pregnant" before joining the cast of "Teen Mom 2" in 2011, years before she signed a contract with Envy Branding. Chelsea eventually left MTV in 2020, but the time frame of her Viacom contract didn't keep her consulting agency from trying to claim a percentage of her revenue.
William Gerard Dzombak, DeBoer's manager at the time, countered claims that Envy was entitled to a percentage of his client's MTV earnings. "It is industry standard that talent managers do not take a commission on work that the talent originates before the establishment of the management relationship. Envy understood this," he said in documents obtained by The Sun. According to The Ashley's Reality Round-Up, a filing from February 2024 showed that the judge ruled in favor of Chelsea and Cole on the matter, agreeing that Envy was not entitled to revenue from the DeBoer's Viacom contract.
Because neither Chelsea and Cole nor Envy Branding were inclined to settle in the lawsuits, the case eventually went to court in New York City. In April 2024, The Ashley's Reality Round-Up reported on the results of the deliberations, announcing that each party agreed to dismiss their lawsuits with prejudice. It was a long time coming, but it seems that Chelsea DeBoer's legal troubles are finally over.