A lawyer for the California dermatologist accused of pouring Drano into her husband’s lemonade says the story was fabricated by the woman’s husband.
On Friday morning, Yue “Emily” Yu had been released on bail and had not been charged with any crime after her husband, Jack Chen, accused her of repeatedly spiking his drink with a caustic drain cleaner last week.
“The idea that my client, who is a 45-year-old well-respected dermatologist in Orange County, would destroy her life, destroy her children’s lives and try to kill her husband is just completely absurd and untrue, and for that matter, defamatory,” her attorney David Wohl told CBS, Los Angeles. Wohl says the poisoning was fabricated as part of a custody battle.
According to Chen’s attorney, the husband, a radiologist, allegedly caught his wife three times at their Irvine home, pouring the Drano into his hot lemonade drink.
According to Wohl, the nanny cam videos showed the wife pouring Drano into an empty cup to avoid splashing.
“Anytime she poured Drano into a cup, it was completely empty,” the lawyer said. “It was for facilitating use in the sink or any other part of the house that was clogged as far as the drainage goes.”
Wohl insisted that Yu never added any Drano or any other substance to Chen’s drink, claiming “that’s completely untrue.”
Furthermore, the lawyer argued that Chen had concocted the poisoning allegations to divorce Yu and obtain custody of their two children.
“We believe completely that these claims he made are all part and parcel of that effort,” Wohl said.
However, Chen’s attorney said he noticed a chemical taste in his lemonade and was diagnosed with stomach ulcers, gastritis, and esophagitis.
According to reports, Chen requested a restraining order against his wife of 10 years last week.
He alleged that Yu had abused their children physically and verbally, even telling them to “go die.”
“When Emily gets frustrated and yells at the children, she’ll commonly use a Chinese phrase that translates to ‘go die!’ She also says to the children, ‘your head has a problem, ‘your head is sick, ‘go f–k yourself,’ ‘f–-ing idiot,’ ‘stupid a–hole,’ and ‘get the f–k out of my way,'” Chen wrote in the court document obtained by The Post.
Chen claimed that Yu even denied the kids—now 8 and 7—sleep if they went to bed earlier than she preferred.
