Kamilla's🧵THREAD. What #that man did to his ex wife is nothing new. It’s called DARVO and it’s used by abusers to portray themselves as the victim, usually by framing the victim’s reactive violence as abuse. Here are a few other cases in which DARVO was used. 
In 2009, Chris Brown assaulted Rihanna in a car. He punched her repeatedly in the arm and face, and put her in a headlock causing her to slowly lose consciousness. He maintains that he did this because Rihanna was hitting him.
In 2021, the cops were called on Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito after a witness reported a physical altercation. Upon arriving on the scene, Brian was able to successfully convince the cops that he was the victim because of his injuries. Just days later, Brian murdered Gabby.
In 1994, OJ Simpson murdered Nicole Brown Simpson. During interrogation by the police, he told them that Nicole’s bruises were just from him protecting himself. He even referred to himself as the “battered husband” in his suicide note.
In 2018, Chris Watts murdered his pregnant wife and their kids. During interrogation, he confessed to killing his wife and told his father that he killed her in a fit of rage because “she had killed the kids”.
In 1993, Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husbands penis after he raped her. He had been physically and sexually abusive to Lorena throughout their marriage. He was arrested for domestic violence multiple times with other women. He claims that Lorena was the one who abused him.
In 2022, Johnny Depp was caught admitting to headbutting Amber Heard on tape. He said that this was to “calm her” and that he had to restrain her, notice the pattern yet?
In 1986, Tina Turner revealed that Ike Turner had been abusive throughout their marriage. Ike said in his autobiography “Sure, I’ve slapped Tina. We’ve had fights and there have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I never beat her.”
In 2019, Melissa Benoist came forward about her ex husband Blake Jenner’s abuse. He slapped her, punched her, dragged her by her hair, and choked her. Although Blake Jenner admits to the attacks, he claims that Melissa abused him because of her reactive violence.
In 2021, actress Christina Ricci was granted a restraining order after she was subjected to severe physical abuse by her husband James Heerdegen. Shortly after, James accused her of abuse – saying that she would “assault and batter” him.
In 1988, Robin Givens filed for divorce from Mike Tyson after he physically abused her. Givens was called “the most hated woman in the world” at one point and branded a gold digger. He admitted to the abuse, but claims that they “both abused each other”.
In 2009, Mike Tyson says in an interview with Oprah that he wanted to “sock” Robin Givens while she gave her interview about his abuse. He again says that the relationship was violent “both ways”. The audience laughs while he talks about abusing his ex wife.
In 1996, Mary Kay Letourneau raped her 12 year old student Vili Fualaau. She pleaded guilty to second degree child rape, but says that Vili was the one that pursued her. And that he was “the boss” in the relationship.
In 2020, RealStories released a documentary called “Group: Batterers Anonymous” in which abusers are forced to confront their actions in group therapy. In this video, you can see an abuser minimize his violence by saying that “she scratched me”.
In 2019, Rosie Cooney was wrongfully arrested after she made a 911 call to report being assaulted by her boyfriend. Her boyfriend said he head butted her on accident and she was later arrested for “trespassing” and “assault” after coming back to the property to get her bike.
Here you can see Rosie’s boyfriend framing her for domestic violence which led to her arrest.
In 1991, R Kelly raped 15 year old Tiffany Hawkins. In 1994, R Kelly illegally married 15 year old Aaliyah. In 2021, R Kelly was found guilty for sex trafficking. He says he’s a victim of a conspiracy and that his accusers are “groupies” who tried to advantage of #MeToo.
So I wrote a whole thread about DARVO in the link below. It includes statistics, testimony from DV experts, etc. The past few weeks have been disastrous for victims of sexual violence & domestic violence. This thread debunks some common myths that this trial rehashed.
DARVO is used by a lot of perpetrators of sexual violence & domestic violence as shown in this thread. It’s incredibly dangerous and we cannot let abusers get away with it. The fact that this was enabled and celebrated in such a public way is what’s even more terrifying.
Despite what people want to say or wish to think, it is both normal and incredibly common for victims to fight back. Fighting back your abuser does not make you just as bad, it does not make you any less of a victim, and it certainly does not make you an abuser.
I want to share Melissa Benoist’s statement because it goes over the harsh realities of being in an abusive relationship. The love bombing, the gaslighting, the violence, and inevitable break that abusers like to use against their victims.
The people in my quotes on about “we’re just gonna ignore all the shit she did” y’all been falling for that man’s smear campaign. That mf admitted to chopping his finger off multiple times. Y’all take everything he says and that’s what this thread is abt.
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