The dark past of a mother who went viral with her heartbreaking video of her sobbing as she baked her own birthday cake has been revealed.
Elizabeth Teckenbrock, 29, from Tampa, Florida, shared a clip on TikTok to show the difficulty of being a single parent and it has been viewed more than 45 million times.
But her ex-husband Andrew Cormier, 37, made a series of bombshell claims in response to her video and said he is in full custody of their two young girls, she barely sees them and 'goes out all the time'.
He alleged she was previously arrested for fraud and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office confirmed Teckenbrock was taken into custody in August 2023 on third degree grand theft and cash or deposit item with intent to defraud.
Cormier responded to his ex-wife his own video on the platform on Friday and made a series of bombshell allegations.
'Right now I have full custody of our kids,' he said. 'This is our parent agreement. As you can see, I have all weekdays and weekends, time sharing with the kids on holiday academic breaks.
'People that follow her are giving her praise and showing them telling her how strong and how you know amazing, she's doing well, she's really not a full time mom. She barely has her kids. She goes out all the time.'
Teckenbrock addressed his claims in a video on Saturday and accused him of being 'extremely abusive' before admitting she does not have custody of their kids but that she does see them.
'Andrew is extremely, extremely abusive and has always been extremely abusive,' she claimed.
'First I'll start by the custody, okay, because that's what we're all talking about. I see my children, I see all my children.
'I'm the one who hosts their birthday parties. I'm the one who puts them to bed. I'm the one who does everything until he pulls them away.
'And the reason is the agreement that you guys have seen online is when I first left him out of abuse, I had no resources, no money, nothing, he was a doctor.
'He said, "if you sign these papers, nothing will change on when you see them and I will not ruin your life. I will leave you alone".
'I was still seeing them always, even now. Like he's put portraying this on there.'
Cormier denied her claims and said he has never abused Teckenbrock.
She added: 'I'm not a perfect person, not even a little, I would never say that I'm not a perfect mom, I hope, like no one would say they're a perfect mom
'When I got divorced, definitely when I left my husband, I was out drinking, or I was I was going through it I mean. I felt like I was literally trapped in an abusive marriage for six years.
'Since I have been 16 years old, and I became a mother, I have devoted my life and my time to being a mom.'
Teckenbrock insisted the incident began after she went for a birthday dinner with her friends after her daughter's recital.
She said: 'It was a late dinner nine o'clock and I said to him after the dance recital, I'm going to go to the dinner but I'm still free for the rest of the weekend for the girls.
'He said "No, you made the decision to go to dinner, you will not see them on your birthday".
Teckenbrock made headlines when she uploaded a video earlier this week in which she is baking a birthday cake with tears streaming down her face.
'Being a single mom is making your own birthday cake on your birthday so that your babies can feel happy they are singing to you,' she wrote over the clip.
She and Cormier got divorced three years ago and she said this was the first birthday she was celebrating without her extended family.
'This is my first birthday alone. Typically I would have family... but all of my family is far this year, and it is just me living in Tampa,' she told Newsweek.
'But as I was making the cake, I was emotional and started crying which I was not expecting. It was an emotional day. I was so upset at the time.
'Truth be told I don't love cake. It was all for them.'
Teckenbrock's Linkedin shows that she is the founder of 'Fear to Fierce,' which is a non-profit organization 'committed to assist survivors of domestic violence through support services and advocacy, empowering women to stand against fear and embrace their inherent fierceness'.
She attended Purdue University where she earned a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, according to her Linkedin. She now lives in Tampa, Florida.
DailyMail.com has contacted Teckenbrock and Cormier for comment.
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