Catherine Kassenoff made a public announcement via a lengthy Facebook post on May 23 last year, revealing her decision to end her life.
“It is with profound heartbreak, a pain I hope none of you ever experience, that I am writing my final post,” she wrote. “Today, I will be ending my own life… There are simply no other options left. Over the past four years of my life, I have awakened each day to a nightmare unlike any other.”
The 54-year-old, diagnosed with terminal cancer, cited enduring what she described as “unbearable abuse and terror” at the hands of her husband, Allan Kassenoff.
The couple, both lawyers in the U.S., had engaged in a tumultuous four-year divorce battle, primarily centered around custody of their daughters. Ultimately, Allan was granted sole custody, leading Catherine, who was terminally ill, to choose to end her life after losing visitation rights.
Her decision ignited widespread condemnation of Allan from strangers, who sent him death threats and even sought out his home to target him.
However, new details have emerged following an investigation by The Free Press into the circumstances surrounding Catherine’s death and interviews with those close to the family.
Former nannies alleged that Catherine had subjected her adopted daughter to punishment by continuously dripping water on her, preventing her from sleeping. They also claimed Catherine treated her biological children, born later through IVF, more favorably.
In addition to her Facebook post, Catherine also released videos of Allan and thousands of court documents via Dropbox. One document, authored by U.K.-based psychiatrist Colin Brewer, indicated that Catherine was mentally sound enough to make the decision to end her life. Brewer noted that Catherine had previously planned to end her life twice before, with one attempt postponed due to administrative reasons in October 2022.
“She was always very composed,” Brewer said, recounting his interactions with her. “She became a bit frustrated when discussing her husband. She was very clear about her intentions and motivations.”
According to Brewer, Catherine’s terminal cancer diagnosis was not the primary reason for her decision but rather what he termed an “existential assisted suicide,” driven by what he described as “understandable despair.”
Brewer’s report indicated that Catherine had made extensive arrangements for her children to be informed of her death in the most sensitive manner possible. However, her adopted daughter, Ally, claimed she only learned of her mother’s impending suicide through the Facebook post.
Ally was adopted by the Kassenoffs in July 2009 from a woman in Florida unable to care for her. Though the couple struggled with infertility, they later had two daughters through IVF. Nannies who had worked for the family alleged that Catherine mistreated Ally because she was not her biological child.
Kim Hull, who worked for the family in 2009, recalled being instructed by Catherine to keep the baby awake all day by dripping water on her head. Kim refused, labeling it as “abuse.”
On another occasion, Hull said she took Ally to a doctor after noticing marks on her back that appeared to be from fingernails digging into her skin.
According to au pair Celine Dublanchet, who began working for the family in 2016, Catherine allegedly punished Ally by locking her in a dark basement for two hours when she was seven years old. Celine also claimed that Ally was once forced to clean the garden alone at night during winter.
Celine described Allan as “very kind” but mentioned that Catherine pushed him to his emotional limits. She asserted, “She wanted the girls to witness their father in extreme anger. She did this deliberately to gain their sympathy.”
Celine admitted that when her visa expired and she had to return to France, she even considered taking Ally with her due to the emotional toll of witnessing her treatment.
After Catherine’s Facebook post went viral, TikTok personality Robbie Harvey, who advocates for women in abusive relationships, posted several videos Catherine had shared of Allan. One clip showed him becoming irritated and calling her a “fat old loser,” while in another, he was heard telling Catherine he “hated” her. Additional clips purportedly captured him shouting behind closed doors and telling the children to be quiet before leaving the house and refusing to care for them. In one video, their daughter was seen crying, saying she did not want to be with him.
Though Catherine’s videos were removed from Facebook, they had already been shared by Harvey and viewed by many of his three million TikTok followers. The resulting backlash forced Allan to resign from his job after taking leave in June.
Allan subsequently filed a lawsuit against Harvey for disseminating the clips, alleging they caused him emotional and financial ruin.
His legal team stated, “With a few keystrokes and a TikTok upload, defendant Robbie Harvey financially devastated plaintiff Allan Kassenoff. Even worse, he irreparably harmed Mr. Kassenoff’s three young daughters… forcing them into a life where their identities will forever be linked to a bitter divorce and the suicide of their mother.”
The case was settled last week for an undisclosed sum, according to MailOnline.
Recently, Harvey posted a nine-minute video offering an apology to Allan for sharing Catherine’s clips, admitting to having made errors in reporting their relationship.
“I wish I had known the full story when I covered the Kassenoff case,” Harvey lamented. “But at that time, I did not. Now that more facts have come to light, I understand where I went wrong.”
Allan accepted Harvey’s apology but asserted that Catherine’s suffering was precisely what she desired.
“She set all of this in motion,” he said. “Whether she was fortunate that Harvey picked up on this or coordinated with him, either way, this was her dream. Assuming she’s deceased, her dying wish and goal were still to harm me and the children. It’s as if she’s tormenting me from beyond the grave.”
