Wayde King - Twitter
Viewers of Tanked, the Animal Planet show that focuses on aquarium life, might want to know that the show’s latest drama is off the screen.
Heather King, co-star of Tanked, a reality television series that premiered in August 2011, has been arrested for violence against her husband, Wayde King.
Heather and her husband’s aquarium company have been very familiar to many celebrities, some of whom are featured on their show, Tanked. In fact, here’s Heather in a pose with BRAVO’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, Lisa Vanderpump:
“So excited to meet @lisavanderpump at pump. #impumped #pumpedrules,” Heather posts to her fans on Instagram.
Fans have tended to be positive and supportive of the couple, as their social media accounts will show. The couple’s long-running show has not seen much in the way of off-screen drama to this extent, but it now has a scandal on its hands that would need to be sorted–for the couple’s path forward, and for the sake of the Animal Planet network.
What allegedly occurred to have caused this domestic violence incident with the Kings?
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Heather King Was Accused of Slapping & Kicking Her Husband, Wayde King
Watching the show, viewers might know that Heather King is featured alongside her husband in Tanked and that the pair films in Las Vegas. Their aquarium manufacturing company is owned by Heather’s husband, Wayde King, and her brother, Brett Raymer. Their company, Acrylic Tank Manufacturing, has many employees featured on the show, but Heather is the company’s accountant.
The company has installed super-fancy aquariums for celebrities like Alyssa Milano, Shaq, Neil Patrick Harris, Tracy Morgan, Betty White, Ludacris, David Hasselhoff, and Howie Mandel.
Reports came in Wednesday saying that Heather had repeatedly slapped and kicked Wayde and that she had been arrested in Las Vegas. Wayde is said to have called the authorities, who came to their home and booked Heather for misdemeanor domestic violence.
Heather was released on the same day.
2. Heather King Was Accused of Dragging Wayde in a Vehicle While Driving
The cause of Heather’s behavior against Wayde was reported as an argument. Apparently, the two got heated about matters in their home, and the argument escalated. According to reports made by TMZ, Heather slapped and kicked Wayde because he wouldn’t let her out of a room.
She acted in anger as the two argued. Reports on the arrest state that Heather not only slapped Wayde in the face, but she also kicked him in the stomach at least twice.
Wayde reportedly told officers that he was hanging out of the window of Heather’s car while the incident unfolded, and that she just kept on driving.
3. Authorities Noticed “Visible Redness” on Wayde King
Heather must have left the house after the alleged slapping and kicking of Wayde, and Wayde’s alleged “refusal” to let her leave a room because reports are saying that she caused some “redness” on Wayde’s stomach–both when she kicked him, and while she was driving.
Reports note that the “visible redness” on the side of Wayde’s stomach was allegedly caused by Heather continuing to drive while Wayde’s stomach was outside of the window.
Heather has fully denied dragging Wayde while in the vehicle.
The only act she says happened was that she slapped him, TMZ reports.
4. Heather King Is Described by Animal Planet as the “Absolute Love of His Life”
Despite this incident, the couple has been seen on social media, and hanging with other guests and celebrities, with a happy smile on their faces. In fact, according to Animal Planet, Heather is the “absolute love” of Wayde’s life. The couple has only been known to be affectionate, as with any other couple.
“Working alongside her father, brother and husband in one office every day is a little more than an average day job; it’s clearly a labor of love,” Animal Planet states in its biography of Heather.
“Heather is the absolute love of Wayde’s life and handles all the accounting at ATM,” according to Animal Planet. “Seeing Wayde in his glory doing what he is most passionate about makes the struggles of mixing business with pleasure well worth it.”
In the above picture, the two can be seen on a trip to Hawaii, for their 20th anniversary, over a year ago in 2017. “Surprise trip to Hawaii for our 20th anniversary #20yearsHawaii #mylove,” Heather captions in the above Instagram post.
5. The Couple Shares Two Daughters at Home
The incident is unfortunate because all alleged and actual domestic violence incidents are, but there is an added layer of struggle and healing for this story. The couple has another duo involved in witnessing this story unfold: their two daughters.
The couple has two daughters, one of who just went to high school prom last year. The couple’s daughters, Taylor and Morgan, sometimes make appearances on Heather’s social media posts.
“My beautiful girls,” Heather captioned of their children, in the Instagram post above.