Domestic violence is that societal evil from which no one is immune, not even celebrities.
Often mesmerized by their glamorous lives and their star power, most people believe that they live a perfect life, from money to power, beauty to fame, they have everything.
It’s therefore easy to assume that they are strangers to painful experiences of mental abuse or domestic violence.
Unfortunately, they are as prone to domestic violence as their fans and there have been many instances in the past when the celebrities we adore have spoken up about their difficult personal lives and the abuse and harassment they faced in the hands of their lover.
In fact, it’s the time to talk about domestic abuse and raise awareness because as per the latest data, the cases of domestic violence around the world, including India, are on the rise during the lockdown.
So, let’s read about some of the celebrities who braved the attention they attract and spoke about their turbulent personal lives.
Karisma Kapoor
The eldest Kapoor sister, Karisma Kapoor was at the peak of her career when she tied the knot with industrialist and millionaire Sanjay Kapur.
It was a match made in heaven—the beautiful maiden meets the powerful and handsome prince of the business world. However, their happiness didn’t last long.
After being married for ten years and parenting two children, Karisma Kapoor filed for divorce. In her plea for divorce, the eldest Kapoor sister wrote that her husband had mentally tortured her and even resorted to physical violence.
There were rumours that the actress had also filed a case of domestic violence against her husband and his family.
Rihanna
Rihanna’s abusive relationship with the R&B star and her then-boyfriend Chris Brown is known to all.
A night before the Grammy’s in 2009, Chris Brown had assaulted Rihanna in a car. Everything came out in the open when pictures of Rihanna’s bruised face leaked out and it made the headlines.
Still Rihanna stayed with him and hoped that he would become a new man and things would change for the better.
However, everything went downhill when Rihanna discovered that Chris Brown had lied to her about a past sexual encounter with a woman. It was then she broke up with him and spoke openly about their abusive relationship.
In a 2009 interview after the attack, Rihanna said that Brown allegedly threatened to kill her, “to scare me”, and that “all I kept thinking was, ‘When is it going to stop?’” She described their abusive relationship as “dangerous”: “The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other, equally as dangerous.”
Rati Agnihotri
The ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye” star Rati Agnihotri was one of the most popular actresses of the 80s. Very few knew that she was stuck in an abusive marriage and was often subjected to physical violence in the hands of her husband.
When she reached a point of no return and could no longer tolerate the mental abuse and physical violence, she lodged a complaint and walked out of her abusive marriage.
In an interview with the Times of India, she said,” “I thought to myself that I am a 54-year-old woman and I will progressively grow older and weaker and then one day I will die, beaten to death… I was all alone.
My sister is in Poland and my mother, who suffered a brain stroke last year, lies paralysed in a hospital near Pune run by nuns.
My son too was away, shooting. My best friend, Shaila, was in Chennai. The two household helps were new, just two and three weeks into the job. There was no one to turn to… “About why she took so long to speak up, she said, “Well, I had certain priorities, the biggest being my son Tanuj.
He was the reason I put up with all this pain for 30 years. I also believed in the sanctity of marriage… I believed in love.”
Reese Witherspoon
It’s difficult to imagine the ever cheerful and chirpy Reese Whitherspoon as a victim of an abusive relationship.
But the ‘Legally Blonde’ actress opened up about her painful past during her interview with Oprah where she talked about an abusive relationship when she was very young; that relationship changed her forever.
Reese refrained from naming her abuser but it is not difficult to guess that she might have been physically and mentally abused by Ryan Philippe, with whom she tied the knot when she was just 23-years-old.
They got married in 1999 only to seek a divorce in 2006.
Later, Ryan Philippe’s ex-girlfriend had accused him of domestic violence. In her interview with Oprah, Reese had said, “A line got drawn in the sand, and it got crossed, and my brain just switched, and I knew it was going to be very difficult, but I just couldn’t go any further… Leaving those situations (isn’t) easy because it’s wrought with self-doubt, particularly if someone damages your self-esteem. … I didn’t have self-esteem, you know? And I’m a different person now.”