LOS ANGELES, Nov 30 — Melissa Benoist recently shared her own experience with domestic violence with her Instagram followers.
In an Instagram video, Benoist said, “I am a survivor of domestic violence, or IPV, intimate partner violence.”
While she did not name her partner, she did detail the alleged acts she endured.
Because of his jealous nature, Benoist said she had to start "turning down auditions, job offers, test deals and friendships, because I didn’t want to hurt him.”
From there, he then started physically abusing her: “I learned what it felt like to be pinned down and slapped repeatedly, punched so hard I felt the wind go out of me, dragged by my hair across pavement, head-butted, pinched until my skin broke, slammed against he wall so hard the drywall broke, choked."
When her ex-partner threw an iPhone at her face, causing a broken nose and nearly rupturing her eyeball. Benoist still kept it to herself but finally opened up about the incident when a friend brought up her partner's controlling behaviour.
Benoist said she told her story as a way to “empower others to seek help and extricate themselves from abusive relationships.”
In response fans have started trending the hashtag #IStandWIthMelissa. Benoist's husband of a few months Chris Woods also tweeted with the hashtag in support of his wife.
Happy Thanksgiving! I’m going to kiss my wife and hold her tenderly. All day. And every day. How do YOU show love? #IStandWithMelissa
— Chris Wood (@CHRIStophrWOOD) November 28, 2019
Before her lead role in Supergirl, Benoist was better known for her role on the popular TV show Glee.
