‘Million Dollar Listing’: Luis D. Ortiz Abuse Allegations: Exclusive Interview With Nikita Singh
When charismatic broker Luis D. Ortiz ended his tenure on Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York, he wanted fans to see him ride off into the sunset with his new family.
But life beyond the sunset was a dark nightmare, according to former girlfriend Nikita Singh, who is also the mother of his daughter Leela.
Ortiz maintained a strong presence on Million Dollar Listing New York for four consecutive seasons until he revealed during season 5 he felt lost and disconnected. He left the show in 2016 and moved to Paris, in search of new passions, only to share on social media he faced deep depression.
After a three-year absence from the show, Ortiz returned to Million Dollar Listing New York Season 8, which aired in 2019. He opened up about mental health issues. Ortiz also dated a woman named Nikita who left him heartbroken during his hiatus from the show.
A few episodes into season 8 Ortiz dropped a bomb on viewers – he was going to be a father. He introduced the mother of his child – a woman named Nikita Singh. She gave birth to a daughter, which was also aired on the show. By the end of the season, Ortiz announced he was moving his new family back to Puerto Rico. The family seemed happy and cohesive.
But that’s not the real story …
In an emotional exclusive interview with Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Singh revealed what really happened during her pregnancy and after her daughter was born. She recounted a horrific cycle of psychological and physical abuse that continued until recently, which was when she was able to break free from Ortiz.
Nikita Singh wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship with Luis D. Ortiz
Prior to 2019, Singh said her relationship with Ortiz was very casual. She had no intention of sharing a life with him and thought he also wasn’t looking for anything serious.
“But I confused the red flags and the grandiose, self-centered behavior as his lack of readiness for a relationship,” she looked back on the early days dating Ortiz. “And I also wasn’t entirely in a place where I was ready for a committed relationship myself.”
So Singh was completely shocked when she learned she was pregnant. She hoped Ortiz would want to be involved, but told him, “I can’t force you to be a father.” So she wanted to “get something in writing that relinquished him from any responsibility.”
The pregnancy complicated their ‘uncomplicated’ relationship
The pregnancy sparked a cycle of physical and emotional abuse. She recounted being gaslit throughout her pregnancy, but also after she gave birth to their daughter Leela. Singh described numerous instances of Ortiz telling her what he did or said to her was all in her head, which made her question reality and the validity of even physical injuries.
Singh went through most of her pregnancy alone. “It was only up until maybe I was about almost eight months pregnant when he decided that he wanted to be in the baby’s life,” she recounted.
“And still, even then, he was not present,” she said. “The entire time it was, ‘You’re doing this to yourself. Nobody’s going to want to be with you. It’s going to be so difficult for you to find someone after you have a child. I am not going be the father.'”
“While at the same time telling producers and close friends that he was going to be a father three months into my pregnancy,” she said. “And the crazy part is it seems like everyone heard a different story. Which I later learned is a type of emotional abuse typical of narcissistic abuse.”
Showbiz Cheat Sheet reached out to Ortiz for comment. He did not respond but has denied accusations of abuse.
‘Million Dollar Listing’: The tale of 2 Nikitas
She believes his interest in the pregnancy was for a Million Dollar Listing storyline. Unfortunately, that storyline became murky because producers never explained that Singh was not the same woman who Ortiz said he dated and left him heartbroken.
“There was another Nikita, and though I don’t know the full details, I would love to speak to her and hear her experience,” Singh said. “I feel she was targeted, I don’t think it was a sheer coincidence that we’re both Indian, having similar names, body types, and backgrounds. I have been told multiple versions of the story but I believe she was being emotionally abused as well.”
“From what I was told it seems she had attempted to leave and cut off all ties,” she said.
“Everyone was confused about there being two Nikitas,” she said. “One minute he loved one Nikita, the next minute he’s having a baby with another.”
She did not approve the footage shown on ‘Million Dollar Listing’
Singh never wanted to be included on the show. But a producer convinced her she could provide her own footage. That never happened. Showbiz Cheat Sheet reached out to World of Wonder, the company that produces Million Dollar Listing. No one responded by the time of publication.
“I was asked to send pieces of footage that I would be comfortable with,” she recalled. “But that footage never came from me. That footage came from Luis. I didn’t even know when the footage was sent.” Ortiz shared a video of Singh giving birth.
“Giving birth to life is nothing to be ashamed of. But I don’t think that I would have ever been comfortable with something so intimate being on full display 10 seconds into an episode.” Singh said the Million Dollar Listing production crew did not film the birth, and it was Ortiz’s footage shared on air.
“I received a lot of backlash from my family, it’s not something that my family could be like, ‘Hey, let’s all sit down and watch this.’ I was mortified. Mortified,” she added.
Riding off into the sunset? Not really, Nikita says
Million Dollar Listing viewers saw a happy family at the end of season 8. Ortiz even filled his Instagram with photos and videos of Singh and Leela from their new home in Puerto Rico.
But months into the pandemic, Ortiz posted fewer photos of his family. He inked a deal with Netflix and planned to leave for a few months to film his new series The World’s Most Amazing Vacation Rentals. Shortly after he left to film, he slowly began to scrub his social media and YouTube accounts, erasing nearly all evidence of Singh and their daughter.
It must be the medication
Singh said life with Ortiz was a rollercoaster. “I remember there was a certain scenario where I tried to say, this isn’t working for me, I’m not happy,” she recounted. “And I remember him straight out saying to me, ‘I love you, and I want us to be a family, but I just need to get my stuff together, and I need to get my mental health in the right place. And you’re choosing to not see the love.'”
“The next thing I know, he’s running around the room, screaming frantically and crying hysterically,” she continued. “And I immediately was like, ‘Oh my God, I did this. I created this pain that he’s feeling.’ So I immediately try to pacify the situation.”
“Then, two days later, when I try to address what happened, he turned it around and said, ‘I never said that to you. I never said I loved you.’ He’d add, ‘I don’t remember it. It must be the medication. It didn’t happen.’ Those kinds of situations were happening all the time.”
Nikita breaks free from Luis
She hoped perhaps Ortiz’s family would see what was happening. But life in Puerto Rico was a nightmare. “I recall sleeping at the airport after being spit in the face,” she shared. “Or there were times when I would have marks on my arms and legs from being wrestled down and then told that it never happened. Or it must have been a joke, and I’m being sensitive.” She added, “I was physically abused but gaslit into believing that it wasn’t abuse.”
Ortiz’s family was no help and Singh was often ignored. “I was constantly abused by a member of his family, both emotionally, mentally. And I remember being told by a member of the family that they weren’t going to let me leave with Leela.”
She eventually fled Puerto Rico with Leela and is caring for her daughter as a single mother.
Ortiz came in and out of her life until he finally disappeared. “He vanished after I requested a mental health assessment before allowing Leela to be left with him alone,” she said. “He drained me financially with false legal cases. And now pays nothing towards child support.”
Nikita says her abuse started before she met Luis
Singh said the cycle of abuse came long before she met Ortiz. “If I’m to go back from in the South Asian culture, it is so common that when a female is born into the family, she does not belong to her family. She belongs to the family of whomever she will get married to,” she shared.
“So from a very young age, it has been already embedded in my mind that I had no control over my life,” she said. “When someone says, ‘Nope, this didn’t happen. That didn’t happen.’ It’s already in your mind that they are in possession of me. They must be right. I am going to have to go with what they say because it’s the culture.”
“And after going to therapy and thinking back to those things of my childhood and the gaslighting, the question came up of ‘How am I going to change this family? How do I prevent people from getting into this? [Because] this needs to stop.'”
She wants to stop the cycle of abuse starting with daughter Leela
“After going through this whole experience and having major realizations that the abuse that I endured didn’t start with Luis; it started as a child,” she said. “It even started before I was even born. I had heard so many stories from women who can relate, and nothing is done because nobody speaks about it.”
She wants to normalize the conversation about abuse through an initiative called Life’s Leela.”
“Life’s Leela was created for Leela,” she added. “It’s a platform that allows women or anyone who has been abused, experienced abuse, or is experiencing abuse a safe place to openly talk about it. And to start addressing topics like generational trauma, societal stigmas, and cultural expectations,” she said.
The organization will invite licensed therapists and psychologist resources, but also a community to act as a support system for those who experience abuse. Visit Life’s Leela for more information.
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
