Jessica Simpson, Tyra Banks Talk About Their Own Abusive Relationships
13 March 2009, 3:05 PM. By Alex Alvarez
Jessica Simpson and Tyra Banks have both come forward with stories of their own abusive relationships and are urging women in similar situations to look for outside support and find a way out.
At a concert in Phoenix, Jessica Simpson told the crowd: “In love, we all go through a lot of things, and a lot of things unfortunately make us stay there [in the relationship]. No matter what you go through in life, no matter what abuse you go through, take your heart and run so far away.”
Last year, Jessica admitted that she had once been in an abusive relationship, prompting speculation that it may have been with ex-husband Nick Lachey or former boyfriend John Mayer. She told Elle: “I don’t want to talk about it, but I have definitely experienced abuse in a way that I would tell people to take their heart and run.”
Tyra, meanwhile, turned her entire appearance on an Oprah episode about Rihanna and teen domestic abuse into a story about her ex-boyfriend and a previous interview she conducted with Chris Brown. She confided that she’d been with a man who had made her feel bad about herself (and then proceeded to talk about him foreeeeveeerrrrr). She then recalled her reaction to the news that Chris Brown had beaten his girlfriend Rihanna, remembering that Brown had been open to her about his own early experiences with domestic abuse in his household: “First when I heard that this alleged thing happened, I didn’t believe it at all. was like, ‘It’s a rumor.’ When I found out about [the charges], I went back to that interview. I was like, ‘Oh my god, he’s repeating [the cycle of abuse].’”
While we were open about our admiration for Jaslene Gonzalez after she was open with her experiences. But she’s promoting a campaign. See, it’s a mixed bag for us, we guess. We love that domestic violence is being discussed so openly and without shame, and that celebrities who are potentially role models for young women are urging girls to take care of themselves. But damn if we can’t get pass the notion that “revelations” of abuse in magazines and national television reek of opportunism and profiting off others’ (and one’s own) pain for self-promotion. The focus shifts from helping women through a painful situation, to one celeb’s personal life. We’d love to know what you all think, though. Where do you all stand on celebrity “confessions?”
Jessica Simpson Urges Women to Leave Abusive Men [US Magazine]
VIDEO: Tyra Banks Surprised by Chris Brown Abuse Allegations [People]
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I was horribly disappointed to find out that Tyra was on the Oprah show yesterday. I was really looking forward to that episode about abuse and then Tyra showed up and ruined it. The ironic thing was that I wanted to hit Tyra every time she opened her mouth.
I was left wondering why Oprah had decided to invite her on in the first place. I assume its because she thinks Tyra is “in touch” with today’s youth but, like. She just served as a huge distraction. I can’t for the life of me remember anything that was said on the show, all I recall is that Tyra was talking.
I totes agree! When they began to Skype with the high school kids, I was still fuming over Tyra’s attention-grabbing. Then they began to speak to some young girl in the audience but I was more distracted by Tyra trying to “school” that young girl. Ugh!!! Such a disappointment. It’s on my TiVo so I’m gonna watch it again and fast forward through tyra’s segments - which is like 34 minutes of a 40 minute program.
Tyra Banks is not an expert and I wish people realized this! She has such amazing topics on her show, but never makes any valid points. Her audience is just as braindead. She acts like a sociologist/psychologist and that is wreckless behavior. Someone needs to take that mic out of her hand.
Firstly, It is beyond me that someone can refer to a successful, sassy & obviously intelligent woman as “braindead”?! Why is it that when female celebs come forward to openly speak about a very painful and humiliating episode in their lives they are branded as just “jumping on the bandwagon” yet if their male counterparts were to come forward the reaction would be “wow. He’s so brave to admit to this..all due respect to this hero”. I see it everywhere and unfortunately most of these double standards are set by women themselves either in the media or on the doorstep.