Rap legend Monie Love and her partner Tuff are just one of the celebrity couples appearing in the new season of “Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition.”
In last night’s episode, Monie revealed that she was physically abused in a previous relationship.
“It’s clear that everybody pretty much perceives me as one part of me without knowing any other part, which is she’s so strong,” Monie said.
According to Monie, the abuse went on for three years and this is the first time she’s ever spoken about it in public.
However, she says she did feel safe enough to tell Tuff.
Research shows that while around 25% of the population experiences domestic violence, only about 2.5% to 15% report it. According to a report from the Department of Justice, Black women experience domestic violence 35% more than white women and 2.5 times the rate of other women of color.
“We know that any time an abusive partner may be feeling a loss of power and control—and everybody’s feeling a loss of power and control right now—it could greatly impact how victims and survivors are being treated in their homes,” Katie Ray-Jones, chief executive of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, told ColorLines.
“The one person I shared that with is Tuff,” Monie told Dr. Ish, who then asked her whether Tuff honored her pain or whether he added to it.
Sadly, Monie says Tuff “added” to her pain.
“Knowing that I added to that doesn’t sit well to me,” Tuff says. “In the beginning, I thought I could protect her from that. What I didn’t realize was that I couldn’t protect her from me. I knew I would never harm her physically, but I never really understood that I could still hurt her mentally.”
Monie did not identify her abuser, but many women can identify with her story. We’re glad she left that relationship behind.
