Yahoo News Glee star Blake Jenner admits to abusive behaviour in past relationship
Glee star Blake Jenner has admitted to abusive behaviour in a past relationship in the wake of claims made by his ex-wife Melissa Benoist.
The Supergirl actress spoke about suffering abuse at the hands of a former partner who was younger than her in November.
However, she did not explicitly named Jenner in the allegations but many interpreted this to be her ex-husband.
The actress alleged that she was “pinned down and slapped repeatedly, punched so hard I felt the wind go out of me, dragged by my hair across pavement, head-butted, pinched until my skin broke, shoved against the wall so hard the drywall broke [and] choked”.
A post shared by Blake Jenner (@blakedaflake) on Oct 8, 2020 at 12:58pm PDT
Now Jenner, who said he was responding to a post made in late 2019, has admitted to abusive behaviour in a past relationship saying he takes "full responsibility" for the hurt inflicted.
In an Instagram post, the actor said that he once “threw a phone aimlessly and hit my former partner in her face”. He did not specifically name Benoist when discussing his relationship.
Jenner wrote: “I froze in a state of shock and horror as my then-partner screamed in anguish, her eye immediately swollen shut from the impact of the phone,” he wrote.
He said he took “full responsibility and accountability for the hurt that I inflicted during my relationship with my past partner — emotionally, mentally and yes, physically”.
“Without absolving myself of any responsibility, it’s important to understand that there was mental, emotional and physical abuse inflicted on both ends,” he added.
Jenner claimed he passed on jobs because of “jealousy of prospective female co-stars”.
The actor said he was “discouraged from and threatened to not develop relationships with and take photos with female co-stars at professional events".
He also claimed his former partner threatened self-harm “out of depression and deep-seated fear of abandonment”.
And he wrote about a shower incident that allegedly left him with “a traumatic injury".
Benoist also described a phone-throwing incident in her 2019 video and admitted at the time to “fighting back”.
Jenner got his break in acting in the Ryan Murphy series Glee after winning the second season of The Glee Project.
He met Benoist on the Glee sent when she played the role of Marley Rose from 2012 to 2014.
The pair married in 2015, with Benoist filing for divorce the following year.
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