Bill O'Reilly has been accused of attacking his ex-wife and dragging her by her neck down the staircase of their Manhasset home.

According to Gawker, a Nassau County Supreme Court justice heard the explosive allegations lodged against the Fox News host over the last several months as the final stages of a bitter three-year custody battle between he and his now ex-wife played out.

Maureen McPhilmy was granted custody of both the couple's young children, one of whom reportedly claimed during the proceedings to have witnessed O'Reilly dragging her mom "down a staircase by her neck" sometime before they separated in 2010 after 15 years of matrimony.

Gawker adds O'Reilly has a growing history of abhorrent behavior toward family members, including once having his ex-wife's Nassau County Police detective boyfriend investigated by his own colleagues at his urging.

After O'Reilly and McPhilmy separated in April 2010, she reportedly began dating Det. Jeffrey Gross. Once O'Reilly became aware of that relationship, he quickly called on his high-powered department connections "to have something done about Gross," Gawker previously reported.

The last several months have been a challenging time for O'Reilly, who has also been accused of dramatically embellishing several of the stories he has reported on.

Mother Jones recently reported O'Reilly "has his own Brian Williams' problem" stemming from many of his reported war zone stories, particularly in the Falklands and El Salvador, instances where he claimed to be near front line fighting.

One such example resulted from his passage in his 2001 "The No Spin Zone: Confrontations with the Powerful and Famous in America," where O'Reilly opined, "You know that I am not easily shocked. I've reported on the ground in active war zones from El Salvador to the Falklands."

Mother Jones reports no U.S. reporters were allowed in the remote area where the fighting took place and O'Reilly claims he was at least partly positioned.

After much denial and as the facts played out, O'Reilly finally came to admit he never set foot on the embattled islands.