Justin Baldoni opened up about his abusive relationship together with his faculty girlfriend.
The “It Ends With Us” director and star, 40, shared his story of experiencing “sexual trauma” from his ex throughout his look on Elizabeth’s Day “How to Fail” podcast on Wednesday.
Baldoni mentioned he met a “beautiful young woman” whereas attending Lengthy Seashore State and instantly began relationship her “to fill a hole and a void where I just didn’t feel like I was enough.”
“And it was a very bad relationship and I kind of contorted myself and my personality to be what she wanted,” Baldoni defined. “I had strong values and opinions and beliefs going in, and those were very easily manipulated and reshaped to the point where a few months in I completely lost any sense of self that I had left. And it got very emotionally abusive.”
“I experienced sexual trauma in that relationship,” the “Jane the Virgin” star continued, “then wrestled with that trauma for the rest of my life, because in my head a man can’t experience sexual trauma at the hands of a woman.”
“And it’s also the way that society has kind of made me feel that it’s only the other way around, when in reality it can happen,” he added. “There are lines that can be crossed and take advantage of somebody and to be manipulated. But I told myself for 15 years after that that wasn’t actually what happened, and that I did want it. And all of the things that women have been feeling and experiencing for a long time.”
Baldoni revealed that “was hoping to save myself for marriage” on the time, including, “And that’s as detailed as I’ll get into the story.”
The filmmaker mentioned he was in denial concerning the state of affairs together with his ex till he spoke to a therapist, who helped him notice he was a sufferer of sexual trauma.
“And that was when I broke,” he mentioned, revealing that the “terrible” relationship finally “ended with cheating and infidelity.”
“I left college, I moved to LA, and it was actually thanks to that relationship ending that I ended up becoming an actor,” he shared.
Baldoni has been married to his spouse, Emily, since 2013 and so they have two children, daughter Maiya, 9, and son Maxwell, 7.
On the podcast, Baldoni revealed that he was identified with ADHD earlier this yr at age 40.
He additionally talked about coping with a “near breakdown” when he was filming “It Ends With Us” with Blake Energetic.
“There were moments in the filming of this where I would just have to leave,” mentioned Baldoni, who portrayed the abusive husband of Energetic’s character within the film. “I’d have to remove myself and go shake it out.”
“There’s a moment in the movie where Ryle finds Lily’s phone,” he defined, “and he finds a phone number and he’s very jealous and he’s heartbroken and he’s angry. And he doesn’t harm her, but you can see in his eyes how dangerous he is. After that scene, I had a near breakdown.”
Baldoni mentioned he “had to leave and just cry and shake because there was so much pain” after doing the scene. He additionally admitted it took him 4 months after filming ended to let go of his violent character.
“I had dreams as him for a while, and it lived in my body but I think for the most part, he’s out,” he mentioned.
Baldoni and Energetic, 37, had been on the heart of feud rumors when “It Ends With Us” got here out over the summer time.
The celebs reportedly had inventive variations through the making of the movie. One supply claimed to Web page Six that Baldoni created an “extremely difficult” ambiance behind the scenes for the complete solid, main him to rent a disaster public-relations supervisor.
Energetic, in the meantime, handled backlash over her “tone-deaf” habits whereas selling the movie.
