CNN anchor Carol Costello appeared on “AC360” tonight to share her story of domestic violence. For once in a long while, a journalist talking about herself and putting herself in the spotlight is valuable.
Costello is speaking up under the glare of NFL suspended Ray Rice and the assault inside the elevator against his wife, Jayna, who sees herself as partially to blame.
When violence happened to Costello, he was charismatic, attractive and she didn’t see it coming. Neither did her college friends, who told her how much he loved her. Only looking back when she was in her thirties could Costello see it for what it was: a crime.
After your boyfriend did this to you, you had friends who basically said to you oh but he’s such a nice guy.
“I’ll tell you a little bit of what happened,” Costello told Anderson Cooper. “One day we were in an argument and he took me and he violently threw me against the wall and it knocked me out and he dragged me much like Ray Rice dragged Janay. So I could relate to that. When I told some of my friends about this incident they couldn’t believe it had happened because he was such a charming man. Charming and handsome and nice. They were our mutual friends, they weren’t just my friends, and I guess in retrospect I’m not really that surprised they didn’t quite believe me because they liked him, they loved him like a brother. I loved him once.”
Costello said she left the relationship quickly. “I left the relationship quickly because I didn’t want to be involved in that. I didn’t want the drama. I was very independent. I didn’t want anyone controlling me.”
The news anchor previously shared her story of domestic violence on CNN’s “New Day.”