Christine Quinn was "stripped of [her] entire life" after she split from Christian Dumontet

She told People: "This is the first time I'm talking about this stuff. I haven't talked about this with anyone.

"Some people knew stuff was going on, but no one knew the extent of it in terms of how bad everything really was. I really didn't have a choice. I was granted an emergency protective order so my ex couldn't come to the house. He violated that, and would keep coming back.

"People really don't know this. I was hacked out of my entire life. I was stripped of my entire life overnight - I literally had nothing. And it was dehumanising. I was completely resourceless."

But the 'Selling Sunset' star claimed that her marriage woes started long before the incidents became know to the public and that she could only put up with "certain things" for a period of time before she took action.

She said: "Everyone sees the incident that occurred, but this is something that had been going on for a while.

"This is something that had been under the surface for a long time. It was extremely unhealthy, and I like to think that I'm extremely resilient - and I am.

"There are certain things that I could tolerate, and it got to a point where it was affecting my son, and that wasn't okay. I was like, 'Okay, I can deal with this, I'm an adult.' But bringing him into the chaos and everything that kind of ensued, I was like, 'No, this is not okay."

Christine alleged that Christian would exhibit behaviour such as lying under her car just as she was about to drive off to work and would stay there until she missed a meeting.

She said: "There were times where my husband, literally, where I had to go to work and he would lay himself under my car.

"I would sit for an hour until I finally missed a meeting and gave up and would go back inside, or he would shut the gates down so I couldn't leave. It was bad."

In the months after the divorce was filed, Christian was charged with child abuse and engagement.

Law enforcement officials told TMZ Dumontet has been charged with child abuse/endangerment, assault and violation of a protection order but the Los Angeles County District Attorney deemed the case did not meet felony filing requirements.

Christine's attorney, Jacqueline Sparagna, said they ere "extremely satisfied" with the decision.

The lawyer told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column: "He has now been formally charged with child abuse against his two-year-old toddler, assault against Christine Quinn, and for violating a restraining order.

"We believe this development is a crucial step toward safeguarding the legal and personal interests of both victims and trust that the matter will continue to be handled with the utmost seriousness it deserves.

"[The] development is a crucial step toward safeguarding the legal and personal interests of both victims."