Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, 70, Faces Lawsuit from 31-Year-Old Ex-Partner Over Allegations of Stalking and Abuse

Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, is facing serious allegations from his former partner, who has accused him of stalking, abuse, and exhibiting “toxic masculinity.” These claims were made in court documents that she filed in December 2024, as she sought a restraining order for domestic violence against him.

Michelle Ritter submitted these shocking documents on December 11, just a week after she and Schmidt had reached a written agreement that required him to provide her with “substantial payments,” according to court documents recently uncovered by The Post.

However, Ritter decided to withdraw her filing on January 6, following the establishment of a new agreement between the two parties.

Ritter, who is 31, began her relationship with the 70-year-old Schmidt in 2021. During their time together, Schmidt invested $100 million in her AI startup, Steel Perlot. However, by May 2024, their relationship had reportedly soured. Although Eric Schmidt has been married to his wife, Wendy, since 1980, it’s widely known that their marriage is open.

In the court documents, Ritter, a graduate of Columbia Law School, alleged that Schmidt leveraged his technical expertise to deny her access to her own startup’s website.

She also claimed in the suit he subjected her to an “absolute digital surveillance system.” 

“I literally cannot have a private phone call or send a private email without surveillance,” she claimed in the filing.

“My former partner is extraordinarily powerful and capable and has used every mean[s] to block me from getting access to secure data, devices, finances, or businesses, or to simply live my life in peace,” she alleged in the docs.

Ritter also claimed in the filing that Schmidt demanded that she agree to “a gag order on any sexual assault or harassment allegations and sign a knowingly false declaration that any such allegations never happened.”

Elsewhere in the docs, she requested court protection for her dog, a German Shepherd named Henry, and to get access to Schmidt’s Bel-Air mansion that she previously lived in.

Schmidt’s lawyers hit back at Ritter’s claims in their own filing, per The Post, calling them “demonstrably false” and “a blatant abuse of the judicial system.”

Ritter later stated in a Dec. 17 filing that she and Schmidt struck an amended settlement agreement and she retracted her temporary restraining order request against him on Jan. 6.

However, she’s since claimed Schmidt failed to honor the agreement. She alleged the former tech executive is instead attempting to “win by economic and resource attrition” since she claimed she can’t afford to pay a $75,000 court fee in a pending arbitration proceeding. A hearing has been set for Dec. 4 in Los Angeles.

A lawyer for Ritter as well as a spokesperson for Schmidt both declined to comment on the case, The Post reported.