Nearly a year ago, Supergirl star Melissa Benoist took to Instagram to share a very personal story about her experience with domestic violence and intimate partner violence (IPV). However, she never named the ex-partner who abused her in the 14-minute video. There was speculation that it was Blake Jenner but it wasn’t until today that the speculations were confirmed. The actor himself took to Instagram to take responsibility.
In the lengthy Instagram post, Jenner does name Benoist. He begins, “Over the past eleven months, I have been thinking about how to address a personal situation made public in late-2019. Throughout that time, I reflected on a period in my life that I had previously kept in the darkness out of shame and fear, but I know this is something that needs to be addressed, not just publicly, but also privately with the individual directly affected and with myself.”
He went on to talk about how he fell in love with a woman who he later refers to as his “former partner” at 20 and had great passion but it became a relationship “rooted in co-dependency”. Jenner then continued to say, “I take full responsibility and accountability for the hurt that I inflicted during my relationship with my past partner — emotionally, mentally and yes, physically.”
“Two years prior to the end of our relationship, there was a time where my past partner and I were in an argument that escalated, and in a moment of frustration, while I was standing in the hallway and she was in our bedroom, I threw my phone aimlessly and it hit my former partner in her face,” he admitted. “It’s a moment that I will regret for the rest of my life. If I could do anything to take it back, I would.”
He went on to say, “without absolving” himself of responsibility, that there was “mental, emotional and physical abuse inflicted from both ends.” The couple went through therapy to work out their issues and their toxic relationship.
“I have thought long and hard about whether or not to speak out about the pain that was inflicted onto me throughout the course of this relationship by my former partner; and I have come to the conclusion that yes, it is important for me to do so,” he wrote.
He went into great detail of their therapy, the trauma of their relationship and his “false sense of masculinity”. At thes ame time, he said “I also do believe that when allegations and information are brought forth about someone, that accountability goes both ways and one has a right to defend oneself when deemed necessary.”
Jenner said at the start of their relationship, he passed on jobs because of “jealousy of prospective female co-stars”. He said he was “discouraged from and threatened to not develop relationships with and take photos with female co-stars at professional events.” In addition, he claimed that his “former partner” threatened self-harm “out of depression and deep-seated fear of abandonment”. He went into further detail of the emotional and physical abuse including a shower incident that left him with “a traumatic injury”.
“There are also discrepancies between the recollections of our relationship, “its timeline and the things that took place over the years,” he said. “To get into the specifics would not only be revealing things that I believe my former partner would want respected as they pertain to her personal life, but would inevitably turn this into a she-said-he-said mudslinging match of sorts — and that is the last thing I believe anyone wants. I think what I’m trying to get at is that this relationship — in all of its toxicity and turbulence — was the product of two broken people over the span of years.”
As he wraps up the post, Jenner said that he is sorry for the loss and respect and trust and that the most important apology extends to his former partner.
“I can unequivocally say that I know who I am and know that I have grown and learned from the mistakes I have made throughout a long period of self-examination and work, but very much understand that I can always learn and continually grow,” he writes. “I hope that by me sharing my story, that it can help people, in some capacity, to reflect, listen, and emerge from the shame and secrecy of abuse.”
Read the entire post below.