Evan Johnson Arrested on Charge of Domestic Assault Days After Ex Kayla Malec Claimed to Be in an Abusive Relationship
Influencer Evan Johnson, 20, was booked on a charge of domestic assault and a violation of his probation on Monday, April 7. He has since made bail.
Police did not identify his alleged victim, but the arrest happened days after his ex, TikTok star Kayla Malec, publicly alleged that she had been in an "extremely abusive relationship" for the past nine months, and social media users have speculated her claims are about Johnson.
Malec has not explicitly named the identity of her alleged abuser, though she did refer to him as "Evan" in parts of her two-hour YouTube tell-all posted on Friday, April 4.
Influencer Evan Johnson was arrested in Sumner County, Tenn., on a charge of domestic assault and a violation of his probation on Monday, April 7. PEOPLE confirmed with the Sumner County Sheriff's Office that Johnson was arrested and later released on bail on the same day. Police did not identify the victim.
Though the 20-year-old has since made bail, social media users have speculated that the arrest connected Johnson to TikTok star Kayla Malec, who recently shared a series of viral videos in which she claims to have been in an "extremely abusive relationship" for the past nine months.
The two content creators were romantically linked in the past year, and in her two-hour YouTube video, Malec referred to the allegedly abusive ex as "Evan," leading her millions of followers to speculate that her claims are about Johnson. She has not yet confirmed the identity of her alleged abuser.
Johnson did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
On Friday, April 4, Malec shared a written note directing her fans to her first YouTube tell-all titled "He doesn't love you. pt.1." She posted the announcement on both her Instagram and TikTok platforms.
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"I will never be able to forget the scars left. i will never be the same girl i was before this. the same man who will look you in the eyes and say 'i love you' & then attempt to kill you is an experience i hope nobody ever has to live," wrote Malec, who has over 14 million TikTok followers on the app.
"I was silently being abused while posting my life online smiling. it's true you can see it in the eyes," she continued in her post. "I watch my old videos and see someone i NEVER want to see again. it drained my soul, and ripped apart the strong nature of myself i've had my entire life. i can't put into words the abuse and what it did to me."
Malec said that after questioning "why me" every day, she eventually came to the conclusion that "this happened to me to save others," hence why she recounted the alleged events in her first YouTube upload and another two-hour follow-up video shared on Thursday, April 10.
"This happened to me to save others. if i saw this video 9 months ago it would have saved my life. i was put through this so i can save you," she wrote. The content creator also warned her viewers to leave their partner if they relate to anything she said about her experience.
In addition to describing her nightmare relationship, Malec posted old footage of her appearing emotional and injured in a series of TikTok videos. She captioned the clips with the dates when she claims they were filmed. In a video allegedly filmed on Jan. 15, 2025 — after Malec says she "finally left" — she gazed into her phone camera while wiping tears away.
"I wanted to look at my eyes once i finally left. You really can see everything in the eyes. this was the last time he got physical with me," she wrote.
Related: Influencer Captures Moment She Sits on Deadly Box Jellyfish: 'Pain I've Never Felt in My Life'
According to Malec's account of the abuse, her ex-boyfriend first physically hurt her on Aug. 9, 2024. She alleges that he punched her during an argument, after things started to "heat up." The level of violence continued to heighten as she recalled the timeline, and later in the year, she claims her ex tried to kill her on more than one occasion.
Days after initially sharing her story, Malec posted another update reflecting on how her millions of viewers responded to the videos and thanking them for their support. "I've been getting a lot of messages of people sharing their story and saying that I helped them," said the TikToker. "I actually don't have words for that, because that's all I wanted this s--- to do."
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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