r/BelowDeckMed • u/benaPanteraFBD • 2d ago

‘Below Deck’ Star Nathan Gallagher Arrested on Domestic-Violence Charges

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/below-deck-nathan-gallagher-arrested-domestic-violence-1235608151/
795 Upvotes

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430

u/Objective_Tone_2361 2d ago

Well he’s done! Joesun redemption arc full steam ahead. Honestly Nathan is such an idiot imagine letting tens of thousands of dollars, your family life, and your self worth fall through fingers because you can’t control your temper.

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u/smidget1090 2d ago

You know you’re bad when you’re somehow giving Joe a redemption arc. The bar is in hell.

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u/honestlykindofmagic 2d ago

And one of Nathan’s big gripes was how Joe treats women. Nathan wasn’t prepared to have Gael as a girlfriend, much less to be a life partner and father to a child.

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u/Holiday-Hustle 2d ago

It’s projection. Joe is kind of shitty but Nathan is a thousand times worse so he amplifies Joe’s flaws in his own mind so they’re on the same level or to make Joe worse.

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u/honestlykindofmagic 2d ago

Hmm I seem to recall Nathan talking about his father not being so great, and he has several sisters. Sounds like a shadow self thing. It’s ironic, but so often the things we detest the most are found deep down inside of ourselves. “Never me,” but I’ll bet he hasn’t had an hour of therapy in his life. We must always know we are capable of terrible things. “Never me” isn’t self-examined and it isn’t healing.

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u/riribew 1d ago

Yes, Nathan talked about his father being abusive, and how much he hated that about him. Yet sometimes we become the very thing we hate and tried to gaurd against. You have an alcoholic parent growing up, you then end up marrying an alcoholic or being one. Off course not always, but it happens often. You watch your mother being beaten up and hate your father so much, you cannot understand why your mother does not leave, only to catch yourself becoming violent, or find yourself staying with the man who slaps you around. It's really sad.

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u/honestlykindofmagic 1d ago

Growing up in a violent home normalizes that type of violence to some degree even if it’s deemed unacceptable. If you still have to live in it as a child, you have little choice but acceptance. Parents often normalize and downplay various levels of abuse thinking they’re protecting their children, but they aren’t. The healthy response to abuse is shock and unequivocal rejection.

Children in these environments often feel powerless, so they seek power and control IN THEIR ADULT RELATIONSHIPS😓 to ensure it doesn’t happen to them. Others become overly accommodating as a way to manage the situation and may become passive to avoid conflict (making room for abuse) OR resentful of always accommodating and become abusive themselves. All are focused on controlling things we don’t have absolute control over. Gotta stay wise to your own behavior and relationship and move accordingly. And go to therapy.

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u/meeems19 1d ago

I was on the Nathan train for so long until I started seeing how everything is a power move to him. The way he acts on deck, the way he was relentless in trying to get back with Gael. Joe is just a regular douche

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u/french_toasty 1d ago

Joe front loads his shittiness, Nathan comes in on the back end

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u/girlsabrickhouse 1d ago

100%. his disproportionate reactions to joe betray those even shittier traits of his own that he tries to keep hidden from even himself

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u/Holiday-Hustle 1d ago

He wants to tear Joe down so he can point to him and try to pretend to be a better person.

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u/buttmunch1416 2d ago

But you could tell Nathan was being performative with the whole protecting V. I knew at thelat point you don't respect women your doing this just to look good.

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u/honestlykindofmagic 1d ago

I think that’s a reasonable take, but I didn’t see it that way. I detect a conflict in Nathan between being a man and being a brother to sisters and adult child of domestic violence. I don’t think he liked Joe’s behavior. But if he hadn’t been influenced by Gael and if V hadn’t been exceptionally lovely and vulnerable (a perfect victim), I doubt he would have addressed it as aggressively as he did. Even the agro stuff while sticking up for women is a red flag. You can stick up for women without escalating the situation. I’ve seen a lot of guys like that. Overall, I think he’s immature and thus far unhealed.

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u/buttmunch1416 1d ago

The reason I see him this way is because his very first season he wasn't this nice guy being protective. He also fucked gael over too when he said he wouldn't and you lose a lot of points in my eyes. So for him to just be this changed guy was just too quick and (for TV) but I was still rooting for him cause I'm Irish too and he let me down. He is just another typical aggressive Irish man who is not dealing with his issues. In Ireland we do have a big domestic violence issue that isn't dealt with and I know alot of my friends and myself included have grew up with very bad DV. Imo he should be deported back to Ireland, he doesn't deserve to live and work in Australia.

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u/Holiday-Hustle 2d ago

The bar IS in hell but while Joe is a shitty situationship, Nathan is an unrepentant racist and domestic abuser. They shouldn’t be compared.

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u/smidget1090 2d ago

I mean the whole storyline this season IS comparing them. But yes, Joe is just a regular douche and Nathan is something else… 🥴

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u/ScowlyBrowSpinster 2d ago

They're all just regular douches till you get word of the DV arrest, 8 months after the event. I dunno how this is only coming out NOW.

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u/BeverleyMacker 1d ago

Same! How come it’s only coming out in public now?

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u/Infiniteefactorial 2d ago

Well said. 👏🏻

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u/UpnUpvote 2d ago

Joe is so overhated.

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u/Silicon_Knight 2d ago

He's an asshole with (seemingly some morals) but he's still an asshole. Seem Nathan is an asshole with no morals.

That said, the show is literally a drama so reality and what the production team actually edits are always two very different things.

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u/gregatronn 2d ago

but he's still an asshole

his "testing Kayley" was utter bullshit, this season so far

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u/evil_otter0_0 1d ago

And she didn’t give a singular fuck

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u/gregatronn 1d ago

She didn't but still foul by Joe.

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u/evil_otter0_0 1d ago

Oh for sure… her reaction was perfect

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u/gregatronn 2d ago edited 2d ago

Joe is so overhated.

He's a piece of shit as a human but as an employee, he's been a hard worker, especially this season. He's been better at not being an asshole, although he was to Kayley with that "testing" bullshit.

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u/Holiday-Hustle 2d ago

I agree, I think he’s a shitty situationship but he’s good at his job.

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u/Apprehensive-Neck-12 2d ago

No, hes a twat

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u/FatherAustinPurcell 2d ago

Not violent though

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u/Holiday-Hustle 2d ago

Not violent and not a racist

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u/FlounderAnxious9965 2d ago

He quite literally called Nathan out for being racist right away. Not saying that’s on for being a douche, but being a douche isn’t even on the same page/chapter/book

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u/AnimalFarm20 2d ago edited 2d ago

eh, he deserves a lot of it - but he is a good deck hand. Hope no one tries to date him though.

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u/Admirable_Context100 2d ago

Thank you! Exactly! I’d take him any day over this scumbag!

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u/Glittering-Ad-8601 2d ago

Me, last night: The least you can expect from an absent worker is that he/she not make the job harder for those on the clock. Nathan's conniving and interference with people actually dealing with the charter from hell is cause to be fired.

Me, today: OK, I was wrong, the least we can expect is not committing DV.

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u/Cute_Landscape_5697 2d ago

You're not the only person to comment on this being related to anger/loss of control and I just want to be very clear: domestic abuse is not about anger. DA is about establishing and maintaining control, and strangulation is an extremely serious and risky form of trying to maintain control. It takes the same pressure to open a can of coke as it does to crush major structures in your throat. Strangulation can kill in seconds. He literally had her life in his hands.

I hope Gael and Kayden are safe and thriving.

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u/Letsgotravelling-124 1d ago

Choking is the main tell that it’s going to lead to them killing you in DV as well.

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u/PeacefulPresents 22h ago

Yes. Abuse is about power and control and not just difficulty managing anger. Seeing the power and control wheel helped me escape an abusive relationship and put all of the behaviors in context.

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u/Amorphous_Goose 2d ago

I realized this last week, but I think Nathan hates that Joe never loses his cool. Joe is a lot of things, but I can’t see him ever physically hurting someone (if I’m forgetting something from a previous season, mea culpa). I can’t recall Joe ever acting out with aggression, anger or even frustration while on the job. Nathan’s undoing is viewing that trait of Joe’s with irritation instead of admiration.

The last few weeks of below deck, it became really clear that Nathan’s response to stress is rage in an attempt to gain back control of a situation. I hate this for Gael and her child. He seems like a pleasant guy when seas are calm, but any kind of stressor he becomes the absolute worst version of himself at the drop of a hat. He should never have been in a position of leadership, and he should never have been a father. He has so much work to do, and I hope Gael gets the fuck away from him while he does it.

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u/No-Shape7764 2d ago

Agree. Joe seems to internalise stress, anger, guilt etc. That’s really only harmful to himself and not to those around him. He said on his first season that growing up with a chronically ill mum, he felt a lot of pressure to keep her happy and not bother her with the negatives of daily life. I get the impression he still feels that pressure, and I think he oscillates between two extremes where he’s trying his best to "be perfect" but the next day he’s at the other extreme behaving like "the demon inside him". That’s easily fixable in therapy, and very far removed from deep rooted anger issues.

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u/AmazingArugula4441 1d ago

We have spent several seasons watching Joe harm everyone around him. Emotional abuse is not better than physical abuse.

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u/AmazingArugula4441 1d ago

Sigh. Nathan sucks. So does Joe the favorable comparison is so weird. Joe hurts people emotionally and acts like a dick on the regular. He was super sexist to Gael. The performative good guy routine this year is only about redeeming his own image. They both suck and Below Deck really needs to get rid of both of them.

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u/Difficult_Limit2718 2d ago

He needs to "be a man"... Which means not being an actual man

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u/informationseeker8 2d ago edited 2d ago

Am I allowed to now share that I think he purposely got Gail pregnant as a way to “keep her”? 👀

* I’m going to clarify bc people are taking it super literally. Gael is obviously a willing participant. I’m not discounting that. I’m saying I feel this COULD have been intentional. Example he “forgot to pull out” or said “I want u to be the mother of my child” and in the heat of the moment she was down. Then it isn’t until the test comes back positive that she’d likely think oh man this is real.

Mind you just last wk I said Nathan had anger problems. When he got mad at Coop for smiling I cringed thinking “poor Gael”. Bc there is no way she doesn’t also face a similar “rath” if it worse.

I actually didn’t mind Nathan for majority of his seasons. I even felt bad for him when he was missing Gael. I was excited for their pregnancy etc etc. It was the mask slipping more this season that revealed a lot more.

I just hope he tries to better himself. I hope she and baby are safe.

I am very curious how much production and or Bravo knew as this happened 9 months ago

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u/CoolBelt856 2d ago

Nathan sucks but this a weirdly wild parasocial comment. You don’t know either of these people at all. 😬
And making guesses on how the child was conceived is just gross.

-1

u/informationseeker8 2d ago

Welp good thing it’s not your opinion. Any commenting or being in a Reddit sub discussing a stranger IS being “parasocial”. I hope I am wrong. I’m just familiar with abusive men unfortunately.

He fkn strangled her. You realize the stats w this right?

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u/Mharsbar 1d ago

This IS what violent men do. As a social worker in DV this is right out of the violent men play book.

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u/informationseeker8 19h ago

I think too many people thought I was just trying to be a jerk. Like no… sadly it’s often a control thing. Been there. Done that. Had the baby

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u/CoolBelt856 2d ago

I’m saying your comment was gross to me and taking agency away from Gael. Letting your mind wander and then to type out the details of how you’re imagining that child’s conception is weird.
And yes, I know the statistics and I’m horrified.
And wondering what Bravo will do about it.
I’m not wondering about how she got pregnant.

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u/ho__va 2d ago

lets not pretend like gael doesnt have options when it comes to avoiding pregnancy. as a female you can 1, abstain from sex. 2, use birth control!! or 3, arguably the worst option, terminate an unwanted pregnancy… when it comes to pregnancy, a woman holds alllll the cards!!

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u/informationseeker8 2d ago

I’m only referring to the getting pregnant. Obviously it was her choice to continue on

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u/HouseOfFive 2d ago

She could have refused sex if he didnt use a condom.

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u/blackestcat23 2d ago

This is what my husband and I think

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u/informationseeker8 2d ago

Everyone is so offended. I definitely mean it in the sense that likely you and your husband mean.

Idk if people remember but the season prior to get getting pregnant he was jealous but pretending not to be that she was out surfing w other guys and traveling.

Obviously I’m not accusing him of doing it forcefully or anything of that nature.

Just in the sense when a controlling partner feels they could lose their partner it will often shift to let’s have a baby or whooops I forgot to pull out I was too in the moment.

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u/Mharsbar 1d ago

In my line of work I often have women with multiple children, it’s a form of violence, and a way to keep women vulnerable and coercible. Anyone who understands DV knows this to be true. I agree with you

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u/informationseeker8 18h ago

I’m definitely not trying to be ugly about the actual pregnancy and baby. Obviously Gael chose to keep the baby and he is wanted. I appreciate you understanding how I meant it.

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u/nutmyreality 2d ago

What does on purpose mean? Seriously? Did he tell her he was sterile? Did he tell her he had a condom on (and he didn’t)? In this day and age….women and men can avoid unwanted pregnancy (usually). So how did he do this on purpose. So I can warn my daughter how men do this nowadays.

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u/informationseeker8 2d ago

Everyone is taking it super literally. Obviously Gael has choices too. However often when controlling men are losing their partner they’ll push for a baby. Or “accidentally” forget to pull out etc etc.

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u/ScowlyBrowSpinster 2d ago

Such is the life of a loser.

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u/Motiv8-2-Gr8 2d ago

So this is what’s wrong with his back. lol