Kristina Romero’s Story: Domestic Abuse Does Not Discriminate

Kristina Romero

A number of organizations have come forward over the past few days, condemning domestic violence and urging support for victims. This morning on Channel Five’s Open Your Eyes, Kristina Romero of Hope Haven spoke about why it is so hard for people on the outside-looking-in to understand why women simply do not leave, especially if they have their own means and education. But, Romero explains that all forms of abuse are about one partner controlling the other. This begins early in the relationship, leading to repeated cycles of tension and apprehension, denial, triggers and explosive incidents, and then honeymoon make-up periods where people want to believe it will not happen again.

Kristina Romero, Raise Me Up

“I was an educated woman, I was a teacher at that time. I was independent because the house we were living in belonged to me. I still went through abuse. So it does not discriminate. It’s not that I did not know my worth. I It is not that I was not able to fend for myself. It was that he had gotten control of me, that I felt that I was in a situation that I couldn’t leave.  I didn’t have a support system to say okay, you don’t have to be living this way. You and your children deserve to be safe.”