Jennifer Zamparelli has bravely opened up about her past abusive relationship and the red flags she ignored.
Jennifer previously revealed the abuse lasted years, and admitted that she struggled to speak out about it as she felt judged and ashamed.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent, the RTÉ presenter recalled the physically abusive relationship: “He had a lot of problems and there was addiction issues.”
She continued, but on the flip side: “He was a very charming person. Always the fun guy. Great on a night out.”
She revealed that: “there was this turn in him — and he always took it out on me”.
Jennifer continued: “I remember the day he told me that he had never had a good relationship with his mother and that he had hit her once.”
She revealed that she “chose to ignore” the “this red flag.”
It was only after they broke up that she reflected on the times she should have called it a day. “I said, well that was a major red flag that I completely ignored because I believed all the bullshit that came after it.”
Jennifer admitted that she felt shameful and this prevented her from asking for help.
“I didn’t want to hear ‘I told you so’ or ‘why didn’t you leave earlier’. People in that situation just really need to be heard and they need support and they need a person to say: ‘I’m here for you. What do you need?’”
“A lot of people used to say to me: ‘Why didn’t you leave?’ The simple fact is because I loved him.”
The mother-of-two revealed that she believed he was going to change and when he said he was sorry.
Picture: Brian McEvoy
Of her reasons for going public, she told the publication: “I did it for my nieces, my friends, I did it for the listener and I did it for my daughter.”
“I wanted to let people know that this can happen but you can come out the other side and have a successful relationship and a successful life and it doesn’t have to define you.”
“It’s part of my story but it’s not my whole story. I have worked my ass off in this industry.”
The presenter previously recalled how her ex used to “love bomb” her, and said: “You get all this attention, they want to spend all this time with you, they are telling you how amazing you are… I was bombarded with this flattery but there was nothing to it.”
“The first time there was physical contact, and physical abuse I was so afraid to tell anybody because I felt so ashamed of letting it get to that stage. I nearly blamed myself in a way,” she explained.
“I look back at Jennifer Maguire who was in that relationship and I think ‘My god, how did she put up with that? Why did she put up with that?”
Jennifer recalled reaching a turning point after her boyfriend hit her in front of another person.
“I’ll never forget, we lived abroad and he hit me in front of someone else. I did pick up the phone and called a friend of mine,” she explained.
“I never forget the kindness and the understanding and there was no… because to be honest a lot of my friends had warned me… ‘Are you sure this is right?’ ‘There are some red flags’. Very gently warning me about this person…”
The former Apprentice star ended up leaving her ex, and moving in with a friend who took her “under her wing”.
Jennifer said she hoped sharing her story would remind other victims of abuse that “there are good people out there and you deserve, if that’s what you want, to be with those good people”.
“Nobody deserves to live in fear. To be walking on eggshells…that’s being a prisoner in your own life and it took me time to realize this is not how I want my life to be.”
Thankfully, Jennifer managed to get out of the relationship, and is now happily married to her Italian husband Lau Zamparelli.
The couple tied the knot in July 2014, and share two children together – a daughter named Florence, 8, and a son named Enzo, 5.
