Coercive control victims speak out for campaign
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Three victim-survivors of coercive control have shared their stories to help others spot the signs and act.
The Northamptonshire Serious Violence Prevention Partnership (NSVPP) said the “It’s Not Love, It’s Abuse” campaign – using the words of Anne, Paul and Louise – showed how it could develop gradually over time.
In words voiced by an actor in a campaign video, Paul said his wife changed the day after they were married and it left him “completely broken”.
Louise said it was possible to “rebuild” your life. She said her husband broke all her belongings and constantly mocked her.
She eventually left him at her seventh attempt, Louise recalled.
“You can rebuild, it can be done and I’m sat here as living proof you will be able to stand again,” she said.
Anne said after she married her husband, he “took control and never handed it back”.
She said her life looked perfect on the outside, but instead he treated her like a “trophy” and had a temper she was “terrified of”.
“It wasn’t love because that’s not what love is,” Anne explained.
“Love is mutual, kind and gentle and what I lived wasn’t, it was non-stop.
“He never hit me, he didn’t have to. It was a rollercoaster I could not get off.”
Content retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8vne17v2o.
