"Iceman" Wim Hof Is Facing Resurfaced Allegations of Domestic Abuse

Extreme athlete and motivational speaker Wim Hof is soon to be the subject of a feature film, but that news was apparently not welcome for everyone who knows him. Hof has become well known in large part for his ability to withstand incredibly low temperatures for long periods, but following the news that a movie was being made about him, allegations began swirling about his personal behavior.

Those allegations were published in the Dutch publication de Volkskrant, and focus on his former partner Caroline, who alleges that he assaulted both her and their child. Here's what we know about the controversy.

According to de Volkskrant's reporting, Hof was sentenced to a fine and community service in 2012 after he was found guilty of assaulting Caroline's eldest son Christiaan. A temporary restraining order was also placed on him by the mayor of Amsterdam ensuring he stayed away from her family. In explaining the order, the mayor of Amsterdam said that Hof had used "physical violence" against Caroline, Christiaan, and a son they shared, Noah.

In 2015, the Dutch Child Welfare Council concluded that Hof had committed so much physical violence against Noah that he no longer felt safe in his father's presence. They then determined that Hof had relinquished his right to see his child.

Hof has denied the allegations and said that he never got violent with Caroline or her children.

"It is obvious that she's on the warpath and now wants to make everything look different from how it was," he said.

According to the article, Caroline first suffered physical abuse when she was pregnant, and his abuse only became worse as he became more well-known. The article also details a pattern of verbal degradation and abuse that seemed designed to convince Caroline and her children that they deserved the treatment they were receiving at Hof's hand.

Following the publication of the de Volkskrant article, which backed up much of its reporting with court records and documentation, Isabelle Hof came to her father's defense in a lengthy Instagram post.

In the post, she claimed that the reporting in the article was not true, and that the publication knew that and decided to move forward with publication regardless.

"I've experienced up close how Caroline manipulated Wim," she said in the post (which was translated from Dutch). "I left home myself when I was 16 years old because I stopped tolerating Caroline’s tensions and lies."

She also claimed that it was Caroline who abused her father, not the other way around.

"I experienced Caroline, stepmother, as a charming woman, which later appeared to be superficial," she said. "When I lived there, I saw her dark and manipulative side. She is verbally strong and can easily wrap people around her fingers. Our father is essentially a pure and sweet person and she has abused that and mentally abused him. He has suffered from this for years after the relationship ended."