“One ex-boyfriend told me, ‘I HATE when women tell me no.’ No wonder he liked me, I was his perfect victim! I was afraid to wear my hair curly, so I straightened it every day. I wore colored contacts to look more like the favored girls with blonde hair and blue eyes. I said yes to my professor’s inappropriate advances which led me to being alone in his office where he tried to sexually harass me. I was fearful he’d give me a bad grade if I wasn’t nice to him.”

‘Please let a car hit me so I don’t have to face my parents.’ My fears SHOULD HAVE been unfounded. But they weren’t.’: Woman grows up conditioned to ‘people please’ after parent’s abuse, finally beats anxiety to ‘fearlessly be ME’

‘Lisa, marry me.’ ‘Ask me when you’re sober,’ I’d say. With enough alcohol, he’d tell me he was God’: Woman spends years with alcoholic, realizes ‘I didn’t have to stay with him to prove I was tough enough’
“Will took me to a graduation party for his ex-girlfriend. Turns out she was younger than I was. He’d started seeing her when she was underage, causing a scandal. We both had a lot to drink. By the time we got back to my apartment and crawled into bed, fueled by seeing him interact with his ex, I was determined to consummate what we had going on. I thought it would help me keep him. I did. We did. I convinced him. I woke in the morning to find he was gone. There was no note. Nothing.”

‘Call the attorney. Tell her you changed your mind,’ he said with gun-in-hand. I was breathless.’: Husband adopts formerly abused wife’s adult sons after their biological father dies from addiction
“I got a call that my 3-year-old had been left at Disney daycare at 2 a.m. The daycare worker called the police. My husband was a master manipulator. This was the last straw. We fled to another state. One night, I got a knock on my apartment door. The door NO ONE knew where I was. My ex was released from jail 2 days prior. With every being in my bones, I knew it was him.”

‘She messaged me, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be home in the morning.’ I told my husband something was wrong. I finally laid down, only to be woken by my doorbell minutes later.’: Mom tragically loses ‘beautiful’ daughter to heroin overdose
“It was 3:44 a.m. I remember walking to the door and seeing a woman standing through the window. I thought it was Ashlyn. As I got closer, I realized it was a woman and a man, both in suits with badges. They were there to tell me my baby had died.”