Jana Kramer Opens Up About Escaping Alleged Abuser From Her Past: ‘I Was So Full of Shame’
04.10.2022 - 06:25
/ usmagazine.com
Staying strong. Jana Kramer opened up about surviving an abusive relationship from her past — and how far she’s come along the way.
“I don’t remember the excuses that I told people when I flew home to escape my abuser about the cuts and scrapes on my shoulder and arms, or why my ribs were hurting, Kramer, 38, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, October 1, alongside a throwback photo of herself and her mother, Noah Kramer. “But when I look at this photo … I see a broken girl who was weeks prior pinned to the ground while the man that ‘loved’ me was strangling me saying that he was going kill me.”
While Kramer didn’t name her alleged abuser, she previously opened up about accusing her first husband, Michel Gambino, of physical and emotional abuse.
The One Tree Hill alum’s message also came with a clip of her 2017 speech at Safe Horizon’s 22nd Annual Champion Awards.
“It started with little comments here and there,” she alleged in her speech at the time, again refusing to name her abuser but confirming that she “married” him. “Then it started with more verbal abuse. And then it started with a push or a shove. And then it became a choke.” She added, “Once my abuser was in jail, I was finally able to be set free.”
Kramer and Gambino met in 2004 and tied the knot after just two weeks of dating. The “Whine Down” podcast host filed for divorce less than a year later. Gambino was eventually convicted of premeditated attempted murder. After he served five years in prison and was released on parole in 2010, the country crooner said she lived in fear until her ex died by suicide in 2012.
“I felt bad because my first feeling was relief that he was gone, that I didn’t have to worry about him anymore,” the “I Got the Boy” singer explained