After a disturbing video of Ray Rice hitting his then-fiancée surfaced online, hundreds of women who escaped abusive relationships flooded social media to respond to the Twitter hashtags "#WhyIStayed" and "#WhyILeft."
TMZ was first to publish a video that shows Rice punching his then-fiancée - now wife - in the face knocking her unconscious. According to the site, Rice and Janay Palmer were in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino when the incident happened. In the video the former Baltimore Ravens star is seen dragging his unconscious fiancée out of the elevator before a security guard stops him. Eventually assistance is called.
According to the Baltimore Sun, Rice and Palmer have been in counseling since the February event. The two got married in March 2014. On Sept. 8, Palmer released a statement on her Instagram page, according to Baltimore Sun, slamming the media and defending her husband.
"... No one knows the pain that [the] media & unwanted options from the public has caused my family," she posted. "To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing. To take something away from the man I love that he was worked his ass [off] for all his life just to gain ratings is horrific. THIS IS OUR LIFE! What don't you all get... Just know we will continue to grow & show the world what real love is!" (To read her full statement click here).
Many people are questioning why Palmer stayed, and continues to stay, in the relationship but that is a question only Palmer can answer. There are hundreds of reasons why women stay in abusive relationships and some of those women shared their responses on Twitter.
According to ABC News, the "#WhyIStay" Twitter hashtag was started by Beverly Golden, who explained in a blog post that she was abused by her husband for over a year. Golden told ABC that she was prompted to start the hashtag because she wanted to address the questions she knew Palmer was facing: "Why didn't she leave? Why did she marry him? Why did she stay?"
Other women soon felt compelled to share their experiences. Check out the tweets below:
