Bombshell Blog Post By Addison Russell's Ex-Wife Alleges Years Of Physical, Verbal And Emotional Abuse
(Source) — The first time I was physically mistreated by my spouse, I was in shock. I couldn’t wrap my head around what just happened…Why did he get so angry? What did I do for him to want to put his hands on me? Of course I forgave him & assumed it would never happen again. I just thought he had let his emotions get the best of him, he loves me and he’s sorry. I was deeply hurt that he could even be capable of this behavior towards me, I couldn’t understand how the man I was so in love with, the FATHER of my child, the man I married just a few months ago could show such aggression towards me… I simply could not wrap my head around it, it tore me apart. As much as I tried to pretend it never happened, I noticed myself avoiding making him angry in anyway in fear of it happening again. I saw a darkness in him I’ve never seen or experienced in him or anyone else. Slowly but surely I realized the man I grew to love so much was becoming more and more of a stranger to me everyday that went by.
Emotional/verbal abuse started way before I even realized, eventually it started to be an everyday thing. Being blamed for just about anything that went wrong, name calling, intimidating me with personal force, manipulating me to think I was the problem, destroying my personal things, threatening me to “send” me & our son home to my parents as if I was privileged to be living in our home. Basically, I felt like I was nothing, a nobody & I was nothing without him, & I couldn’t do anything without him. After he would calm down from his angry spells, I’d always get the most sincere apologies, making me believe how sorry he was & he’s working on bettering himself. One of his favorite excuses was that he was “young” & he’s still learning how to live right, he basically raised himself, he didn’t have nurturing parents like I did & he didn’t know how to love the way I did. But, somehow he could ALWAYS find a way to make me feel like it happened because of me, or because I wasn’t listening to him. It was ALWAYS my fault – You don’t realize it, but its a sick mind game that you get sucked into – All your source of happiness somehow is controlled by that one person, depending on how they decide to treat you on a daily basis. Feeling the need of affirmation from him became the main source of how I felt happiness. Always trying to please him to show him I was good enough, strong enough, worthy enough… it consumed me & before I realized it, I was so far gone from the person I used to be.
When I first met him, everything was perfect. Too perfect, I guess some would say. I was 20 years old, he was my first real boyfriend. I was raised in a very sheltered and loving home, every little girl’s dream is to find her soulmate and live happily ever after. I was head over heels for him and he was head over heels for me. He treated me like a queen, so respectful, such a gentleman. He loved my family, everyone loved him. Everything seemed to click perfectly. I knew he was the one, every bone in my body knew he was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Its tragic really, looking back I think about my 20 year old self and my heart still breaks for her. I had no idea how much pain and heartache this man was going to put me through.
Along with being cheated on with so many different women, I lost all self confidence within myself. I never felt good enough to keep him happy at home, emotionally & sexually. He would complain to me that our sex life “sucked” because I was so tired all the time, FROM TAKING CARE OF OUR INFANT SON, ALL BY MYSELF. Or how I was not experienced enough, he used to tell me he’d wish I would have been with more partners before him so I knew what I was doing. I was 22 years old at the time, & we’ve been married for about 6 months. My husband was the 2nd man I’ve ever been with, I always thought that would be something for him to be proud of… but in this case he made it seem to be an inconvenience to his needs. All I would think about was how could I change myself to make him see that I was good enough, it’s a poisonous feeling, & as much as I knew deep down that what I was feeling & how I was being treated wasn’t okay, I’d convince myself that it would get better, he loves me, just give it time – & that became a never ending pep talk I’d have with myself more than I’d like to admit.
There’s way more to that blog post, and it’s worth the read to get the full scope of how much of a scumbag Addison Russell is, allegedly. The cheating stuff isn’t as surprising, unfortunately, because you’re almost signing up for that if you date/marry a professional athlete. That obviously doesn’t excuse his actions, but the point is more that it’s extremely common and far less shocking as the tales of physical, verbal and emotional abuse that she endured.
In June of 2017, Russell’s ex-wife, Melisa, posted an Instagram picture with a caption that read, “Being free to be able to make your own choices for your own happiness beats being cheated on, lied to, & disrespected any day. #herestonewbeginnings #onlygetsbetterfromhere” There were no mentions of physical abuse from Melisa herself in the post that has since been deleted, but a comment on the post from someone that she identified as a close friend of hers suggested that physical abuse had taken place. MLB attempted to investigate the claims, but Melisa opted not to cooperate with the league.
Russell released a statement denying all allegations:
“Any allegation I have abused my wife is false and hurtful,” Russell said in a statement issued Thursday afternoon. “For the well-being of my family, I’ll have no further comment.”
This is all he-said, she-said right now, but this recent blog post by his ex-wife is enough for the Cubs to withhold the shortstop from the lineup card against their crosstown rival later today. Since MLB has created their domestic abuse policy, they have not been afraid to enforce it to its fullest extent, handing out suspensions to Aroldis Chapman, Jeurys Familia, Jose Reyes, Hector Olivera, Steven Wright and Roberto Osuna, most without any criminal charges.
From a baseball standpoint, which takes a backseat to the human element of this, the Cubs will be just fine since adding second baseman Daniel Murphy, Kris Bryant returning to third base and NL MVP candidate Javy Baez taking over full time at shortstop. I don’t think it would be all that surprising if the last time we saw Russell this season was the last time we’ll see Russell this season.