The Bachelor star Grant Ellis has opened up about his father’s past drug addiction, but has yet to reveal his jail stint and slew of legal troubles.
After first sharing with the world on Jenn Tran’s season of The Bachelorette that his father struggled with addiction for 30 years, Grant continued sharing his story of growing up with a dad who had an alcohol and drug addiction on his season of The Bachelor.
He confessed to Jenn that his father is newly sober after checking into rehab before the 31-year-old went on the show to find love.
DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal that Grant’s father, Robert Ellis, has had multiple run-ins with the law that span from the reality star’s early childhood until his teenage years.
Robert’s addiction affected his relationship with his son and Grant’s mom Renee, whom he divorced while the New Jersey native was in college.
Mr. Ellis’ criminal past includes convictions of possession of controlled substance (CDS), resisting arrest during two different instances with cops, impersonation in the fourth degree, loitering, defiant trespassing as well as numerous traffic citations, such as driving with a license that was suspended.
The Bachelor star Grant Ellis has opened up about his father’s past drug addiction, but has yet to reveal his jail stint and slew of legal troubles
Mr. Ellis’ criminal past includes charges of resisting arrest, impersonation, defiant trespassing among other offenses and various traffic citations
The former car dealership owner spent at least seven days in jail in New Jersey, according to court records obtained by DailyMail.com.
The first time was in November 1999 after his arrest for aggravated assault in the third degree, eluding in the third degree and resisting arrest in the fourth degree.
The aggravated assault charge was eventually dropped and in April 2001, he was sentenced to three years of probation and was ordered to comply with drug and alcohol dependency rules for his charges of eluding and resisting arrest.
While his jail sentence at the time was suspended for six months due to his warrant status, according to the judgment of conviction obtained by DailyMail.com, he ended up spending four more days in jail for his conviction in April 2004.
His third time in custody was in February 2005 when he was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia in the third degree.
While details from the police report are not available to the public due to it being a criminal investigatory record – involving either charges of possession of CDS cocaine, distribution of CDS cocaine or distribution of CDS within 1,000 feet of a school and 500 feet from a park – DailyMail.com was able to obtain a copy of his disposition.
He initially plead not guilty, but then changed his plea to guilty in August 2005.
Although he didn’t end up spending more time in jail for possession of CDS, in August 2006, a judge sentenced him to three years of probation, ordered him to have regular urine testing, 50 hours of community service, informed him he must ‘maintain full-time steady verifiable employment,’ and he had to pay a $1,000 penalty fee.
Robert Ellis spent multiple days in jail in April 2004 for eluding and resisting arrest (pictured is his mugshot from 2004 from the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office)
Grant told Jenn Tran that his father used to take him to the park when he was ‘intoxicated’ but he said that he ‘didn’t know’ at the time what his father was going through
Robert posted on his Instagram in September 2024, ‘A day in recovery’
He was also ordered to ‘continue attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings and whatever treatment and counseling for substance abuse on an out-patient basis as directed by Probation.’
While Robert has avoided legal issues over the years, he was recently sued by a debt collection agency for having an outstanding bill of $948.12.
A complaint filed by LVNV Funding LLC on March 4 in a New Jersey court against Robert indicated that The Bachelor’s father failed to make payments to the original creditor Credit One Bank.
His credit account closed in March 2023 due to him not making payments, according to the complaint.
He now owes $1,005.12 due to additional filing and service fees, per the complaint.
His response is due to the court next month and if he does not respond, the court will automatically issue a ruling.
DailyMail.com has contacted Robert Ellis for comment on this story.
When Grant was on The Bachelorette, he opened up to Jenn about his dad’s decades-long struggle with addiction.
Grant said in an August 2024 episode of The Viall Files, ‘I’m super proud of him for the progress he’s made, where he’s come from, and what he’s doing now’
Grant continues to discuss his childhood and growing up with his father, who was in and out of jail, in new episodes of The Bachelor
‘Addiction is a hard thing because, you know, growing up, my pops was everything. Like, he was my superhero,’ he shared.
‘He used to take me to the park, and he always used to be inebriated or, like, intoxicated under the substance. The worst thing is … I didn’t know.’
He continued, ‘When you’re a child, you believe everything, and the one person I trusted most was always lying. So that was something.
‘In my eyes, I’m like, “You’re a man. Why can’t you do what you have to do?”‘
The TV personality went on to say that his father checked into rehab after losing his job and since then, he and his father reconnected and had a heart to heart.
‘He was like, “Listen, son. This is the first time that you know the real me when I’m not intoxicated.” So I’m, like, really leaning into that.
‘So now, he’s a little under two months sober, so, you know, I hope he holds strong. And it’s his first time living, too.’
In an August 2024 episode of The Viall Files, Grant shared another update.
Grant Ellis started his journey on The Bachelor with 25 eligible women. He now has three remaining contestants following the March 3 episode
‘I’m super proud of him for the progress he’s made, where he’s come from, and what he’s doing now. I just want him to know that he did a good job,’ he said.
‘I love my father to death, man, and he did the best that he could. It’s his first time living too, and he has this trauma, and he just took a certain route.
‘And I don’t want him to ever think that I’m, like, bashing him or putting him out there, but you know, this is, it’s my life story.’
Grant continues to talk about his dad’s journey and how much of an impact he made in his life.
In a February episode of Off The Vine Podcast, he talked more about his dad growing up and said that his journey to find love also involves his father.
‘So my dad was an exotic car dealer growing up and he ended up opening a studio. He used to sell cars to like Biggie Smalls and Eddie Murphy,’ he spilled.
‘Our family got pictures with them. That’s how my mom and dad met – they met at Eddie Murphy’s birthday party in New York. So they met there and my dad had a car dealership and one of his clients was RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan.
‘We used to go to the studio when I was a kid and I used to be in there listening.’
Litia Garr, 31, is a venture capitalist from Salt Lake City, Utah
Zoe McGrady, 27, is a tech engineer and model from New York City
Juliana Pasquarosa, 28, is a client service associate from Newton, Massachusetts
After the March 3 episode of The Bachelor season 29, there are three women left: Juliana Pasquarosa, 28, Litia Garr, 31, and Zoe McGrady, 27.
When asked if he could tease the ending, he told host Kaitlyn Bristowe, ‘What I can say is that there’s multiple love stories and I’m not talking about with, like, different women. I’m talking about between me and my father.
‘The emotional connections were so strong that it was difficult at the end.
‘But ultimately you have to follow your heart and you have to make sure you’re leading with that.’
The Bachelor continues with the Women Tell All airing on March 10 at 8pm ET followed by the overnight Fantasy Suite dates on March 17.
