It is very unusual for people who have been subjected to domestic violence to publicly share their experiences. Jennie Willoughby’s candor and strength is empowering to all those who may feel trapped in an abusive relationship or who may have endured this misery in the past. Her perspectives are guidance for healing and personal growth that can aid in a return to a normal healthy life.
Excerpts...
- “We need to have a conversation that anyone who is manipulative or abusive of power or abusive in any way is held accountable, regardless of what they contribute.”
- [I want to] “share my experience with other people and talk about the shame and the guilt that’s associated with it—and also the strength and resilience.”
- “This is a troubled man with issues that needs help. It was a low-grade, constant terror of not knowing what I might do to set something off—what mood he would have.”
- Seeing the photos of Holderness [Porters first wife], Willoughby said, made her feel lucky “that the abuse I endured wasn’t like that.”
- After Porter refused to leave the home she was staying in during their separation, Willoughby said, he punched in the glass on the front door, prompting her to call the police. “I didn’t know what he would do next,” she said. “Even in that moment—I didn’t realize the extent of what I was dealing with.”
- “He’s deeply troubled, and angry, and violent.”
- On another occasion, following an argument “where we were both yelling in each other’s face, which unfortunately had become the norm in our marriage,” Willoughby said Porter “came to the shower and opened the door and pulled me out to continue yelling at me. I think up until that moment, I didn’t realize that I was in an abusive marriage,” Willoughby said, growing emotional. “That I was with a man who was capable of something like that.”
- Cooper noted that Porter is currently dating Hicks, the longest-serving senior aide in President Trump’s orbit, and asked Willoughby if she was worried about Hicks. “It worries me for a lot of reasons,” Willoughby said. “If he hasn’t already been abusive with Hope, he will be.”