In an emotional video she shares on Instagram, the 'Supergirl' star says that she was 'pinned down and slapped repeatedly, punched so hard the wind was knocked out of me' during her relationship.

• Nov 28, 2019

AceShowbiz - Melissa Benoist made a shocking revelation on Wednesday, November 27. Sharing an emotional video on Instagram, the "Supergirl" star claimed that she was a survivor of domestic violence before going on to detail the alleged abuse that she received from her partner, whose identity was kept secret by the actress.

Describing her partner as someone who was younger than her, Melissa explained that things between them was fine when they were still friends. However, that changed when they turned their relationship into a romantic one, as her partner started showing controlling behavior and emotional manipulation. According to Melissa, her partner was often jealous, looked at her devices and got angry when she spoke to other men.

Even doing romantic scene at work allegedly was a no go. "He didn't want me ever kissing or even having flirtatious scene with men, which was very hard for me to avoid, so I began turning down auditions, job offers, test deals and friendships, because I didn't want to hurt him," she noted. Despite being treated like that, Melissa admitted that "none of that registered as abuse because I was worried about how he felt at that point," as she continued to ignore the major red flags.

Things got even more violent after that, with the first incident of violence allegedly occurring five months into their relationship. Her partner allegedly threw a smoothie at her face at the time, but she chose to kept it a secret out of fear that he would abuse her even more. "I learned what it felt like to be pinned down and slapped repeatedly, punched so hard the wind was knocked out of me, dragged by my hair across pavement, head-butted, pinched until my skin broke, shoved into a wall so hard the drywall broke, choked," she detailed.

In order to avoid the abuse, Melissa tried to locking herself in her own room to no avail because her door was soon broken down by her partner. He then started putting her in a bathtub with the faucet running and left the room before returning to apologize, an action she claimed he did often. However, again, Melissa chose to stay because she believed she could help him out, only to find herself being the one who changed due to the attack.

"I have changed and I'm not proud of how I changed," she explained. "I became a person I could have never imagined lurked inside of me. I was livid at what was happening and that fact that I was allowing it out of the fear of failure. I experienced firsthand that violence begets violence. I started fighting back because rage is contagious." She went on describing herself, "I was the ugliest version of myself I had ever known."

It wasn't until her partner allegedly threw an iPhone at her face that she realized she had to take an action despite her fear and worry to do so. The injury she received at the time was so bad, as she explained to her followers, "The impact tore my iris, nearly ruptured my eyeball, lacerated my skin and broke my nose. My left eye swelled shut. I had a fat lip ...Something inside of me broke, this was too far."

"This is an injury that's never going to fully heal, my vision is never going to be the same," Melissa elaborated. "Whatever I thought love was, it certainly wasn't what I had been going through. I was so tired of living the way I had been living, but it felt too late to get out. Would it be safe to leave?"

She then continued explaining that after the attack, she lied to the nurses and police about how she got the injuries but soon mustered the courage to be able to confide in a friend who asked her about her partner's controlling and aggressive behavior. "The more people I let in, the more I was bolstered," she said, adding that she left her partner after that.

Melissa ended her story by stressing that she wasn't lying at all and hoped that it would prevent others from enduring the same form abuse. She also reminded her followers that there is "strength in numbers," saying, "By sharing my story, hopefully I can empower others to seek help and extricate themselves from abusive relationships. Everyone deserves to be loved void of violence, fear and physical harm."

Many of her followers have since praised her for bravely sharing her story.