Actress Alexa Nikolas (Zoey 101) accused her ex-husband, Michael Milosh of Rhye, of sexual abuse, assault, and grooming in a lengthy series of posts on her Instagram. "This is an open letter about an older male ephebophile musician that groomed a teenager for a green card, success, and sex," she begins, saying that Rhye's team tried to get an interview she did with Verse in 2018 taken down because in it, she says they began speaking when she was 16. She goes on to describe their first few years of talking, including their first phone conversation that she said "was definitely flirtatious. It did not seem like just a friendly phone call."
On her 18th birthday, Nikolas says Milosh invited her to visit him in Berlin so he could photograph her, also telling her that he had a girlfriend and that she would need to pay to book separate lodging for them, money she says she later learned covered a month of his rent.
"My first sexual experience with Milosh was the first night I arrived in Berlin," Nikolas continued. "I was 18 years old and he was 35 years old. I took a shower and I was on my period, which I remember feeling good about because I didn't want to sleep with him right away. I wanted to postpone sleeping together so we could get to know one another."
After listening to a song together, Nikolas says, "he told me he wanted to take off my clothes. I told him no, I'm on my period, and I don't feel comfortable. He responded saying he doesn't care about having sex while a girl is on her period. He also said he likes the taste of blood. I remember feeling very uncomfortable, but I was attracted to him and I did not want our first sexual experience to be spoiled. I did not respect my no and neither did he. He got on his knees and lifted my legs up over his shoulders and told me to relax. "You have to relax," he said. He spit on his fingers and began to press his thumb into my ass."
"I told him no," Nikolas continued,"that does not feel good, and he said to relax and to trust him. I remember a tear coming out as he was looking down at me. He told me, 'We will just do one thumb today. One thumb at a time.' Then he continued to have vaginal intercourse with me without a condom. I was silently crying."
A week after she returned home to Los Angeles from Berlin, Nikolas says Milosh sent her "the first song about me 'Major Minor Love'. He said that the line 'A dark rhythm beating just behind' was in reference to anal sex. Also the title was a play on words, major/minor key and the fact that I was a minor when we first started talking. In retrospect reading those lyrics is deeply disturbing. Now each word of that song completely creeps me out."
Nikolas says she and Milosh continued to have a "long distance affair" from 2010 to 2011, and that she financed a trip for him to visit her in January of 2011 when he said he didn't have the money. He wound up working on music during the visit, she says, filming a music video and recording an EP. "It's becoming more and more clear that he was conveniently using me," she says. "He ended up signing a deal with Innovative Leisure, they paid for his trips between Berlin and Los Angeles to finish recording. Innovative Leisure was paying for his flights, his girlfriend was paying for his life in Berlin, and I was paying for his life in Los Angeles... Somewhere around October he broke up with his girlfriend and asked if he could move in with me.
"When Milosh was visiting," Nikolas continued, "he suggested this idea that he would mic me up during sex and use the sounds as samples in his songs. In one of his songs 'Don't Call It' he used the sound of me saying 'No' and reversed it to saying 'On'... He told me that he once picked up two Japanese women who did not speak English, brought them back to his place in Toronto, got them drunk, started fooling around with both of them, mic'd them up, and used their sounds while having sex. I doubt he got consent because they did not speak English and they were intoxicated. It is the 'Instrumental' song off his album 'meme.'"
Nikolas continues that after Milosh moved in with her, "the honeymoon phase was over." She was still processing having been raped by someone she had been dating, and she says that "instead of him being loving and supportive through it all he was abusive," at times "punching the refrigerator and candles. Creating multiple dents in my fridge and even hurting his own hand through the process."
When she was 19, Nikolas says Milosh proposed to her. "He said he wanted to stay in Los Angeles," Nikolas says. "'I know I won't be able to stay here that long, so how do you feel about taking this to the next level, I want to be with you for the rest of my life, let's be together.'" She accepted, and went on tour with him in the US. Later, in 2015, she says she learned by going through his emails that a record label was requiring him to have an artist visa (he was born in Canada) to tour in order for him to receive a deal. "This all happened right before he asked me to marry him," she says.
Also in 2015, Nikolas says that Milosh "casually told me on the couch that when he was in his mid 20's him and his best friend invited a Jamaican girl over to their jacuzzi, got her wasted, told her to talk around the jacuzzi singing African chants, and coerced her into giving them both blowjobs. After finishing Milosh brought her onto the lawn by the jacuzzi, bent her over on her knees, started to penetrate her with his fingers, and then thought it was funny to put other objects in her ass, like leaves and pieces of a chocolate candy bar without her consent or knowledge. He said I should be proud of myself where I am at because that is where he was at in his 20's."
Not long after, Nikolas says that Milosh physically attacked her: "he charged at me, picked me up, pushed me on the couch, and pressed his forearm into my throat and continually screamed "shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up!'. I couldn't breathe."
Nikolas and Milosh eventually separated, and Nikolas says that during the process of pursuing a divorce, Milosh resisted participating in formal legal proceedings, asking her to meet him and sign a separation paper instead. "To this day I still suffer PTSD from that relationship, even doubting my own sanity on same days." You can view all of Alexa Nikolas's Instagram posts below.
Milosh has denied the allegations in a statement to Spin:
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always strongly supported women and their right to speak out and be heard.
That is why the false claims made by my former wife had been so hurtful and shocking to me. Alexa and I were married for nearly seven years. Like all marriages we had our difficulties and [sic] tempted to weather them together as best we could. Ultimately, despite our best efforts, we agreed to divorce. I loved her very much and we shared many special years before our marriage ended. I have always wished her nothing but the best and continued to support her financially even after I was no longer required to under our divorce agreement. Eventually, I stopped paying in response, Alexa has resorted to character assassination.
However, regarding my ex-wife’s recent Instagram post and its listed as serious and demonstratable untrue accusations, it’s simply a piece of revisionist fiction. These are absurd and outrageous false claims about me that a media outlet has published and repeated falsehoods are beyond irresponsible — it’s defamatory.
I can only stay the unvarnished truth. Alexa came to Berlin several months after her 18th birthday and we spent a week hanging out enjoying the city taking photographs that she eventually used as her IMDb listing headshot and modeling photos. We fell in love. I visited the following fall and she lived with me in Berlin the following summer but ultimately said she couldn’t live in Germany as her career and life were based in Los Angeles so I moved to Los Angeles for love, for her, for us. This is a story that has been documented extensively around the release of my first record.
Our art photography collaborations continued before and during our marriage, we had a Gallery exhibition of the photos I took of Alexa and she was proudly featured on the cover of my album.
I’ve done many interviews about my songs the lyrics and what inspired them many about love relationships and sensuality.
My life is a touring musician and the pressures of travel and life on the road ultimately took its toll on our marriage and I’m sorry she came to feel my professional life has had a negative impact on her and our life together. Alexa had her own demons and I did my best to be a good husband in trying to overcome them. In the end, we could not help each other.
We were married for nearly seven years before the divorce decree was finalized.
We filed for divorce using a mediator who arrived at a fair settlement and processes the documents. Neither of us engaged individual divorce attorneys and there is no courtroom drama. Even after all of my alimony obligations, I continued to send money when she said she needed it for car repairs, moving deposits, back taxes, creative projects at her many requests.
I’ve tried to be supportive and help out when repeatedly asked but at a certain point, I was not able to provide any additional financial support things seemed to have taken an abrupt change thereafter. Now I am being hit with horrific and spiteful lies.
I reiterate that these accusations are outrageously false and the manipulated stories provably untrue. I’m fully prepared to cooperate with any independent investigation into these false claims and look forward to being cleared of all the shameless mirrors.