Meredith Vieira: ‘Why I Stayed In An Abusive Relationship” [Video]
Following the public firestorm of the domestic violence controversy surrounding NFL player Ray Rice, Meredith Vieira has decided to speak out about her own abusive relationship she endured.
In a very public venue — her own brand new talk show — Vieira was open and honest about her own struggle in an abusive relationship in order to continue with the #WhyIStayed movement.
“I want to explain to you why I stayed,” she said to her audience.
The “Why I Stayed” movement are shared stories of women across the globe who were in abusive relationships. This is in an effort to take the light off of Rice’s wife, Janay for staying with Rice, and on abusers who inflict pain on women that find themselves in a powerless situation.
During the segment, Vieira shared a small part of her story.
“Then there was the night, we shared an apartment, and threw me into a shower, naked with scalding water, then threw me outside in the hallway. I hid in the stairwell for two hours until he came again crying, ‘I promise I won’t do this again.'”
As far as Janay “contributing” to the controversial issue, Meredith Vieira shared some perspective on what it’s like to be in that situation.
“A lot of people say, ‘Well, who would stay in that situation? Somebody who doesn’t have the wherewithal to get out, the means to get out. I was scared if I tried to leave something worse could happen to me. Part of it was guilt because every time we would have a fight he would then start crying and say, I promise I won’t do it again.”
The former Today co-anchor has been married to American journalist Richard Cohen for 28 years. The couple have been open about Cohen’s battle with MS after not discussing it with family and friends for years.
Aside from that, Meredith’s revelation about her own abuse continues the powerful narrative of other women sharing their harrowing stories of abuse. Here’s a few from Twitter.
#WhyIStayed creator speaks out: ‘I loved him, I trusted him, I was afraid of him’ – http://t.co/czgw1HR3W1 pic.twitter.com/2yVFZd6Ttx
— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 10, 2014
#whyistayed I didn’t want to be homeless. #whyileft I had friends on the streets who treated me better than he did.
— Rachel Haywire (@RachelHaywire) September 10, 2014
“#whyistayed b/c he never hit me and I didn’t think verbal #abuse and emotional manipulation was considered an abusive relationship.”
— Uraidah Hassani (@UraidahH) September 10, 2014
#whyistayed because he isolated me from friends and family and I had no one to turn to when the abuse started
— Lady Grim (@grim_mandy) September 9, 2014
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ao-oUVbJZ3Y
[Image via NBC Universal]
