Rug doll

Annabelle doll

Kit Gruelle is a survivor of domestic violence who has worked as an advocate for battered women and their children for almost 30 years. As a renowned community educator, she has trained and empowered scores of advocates, criminal justice professionals, health care providers, clergy, legislators, educators and other allied professionals to prevent family and domestic abuse.

She is the subject of Private Violence, an intimate and compelling documentary on domestic violence which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and on HBO on October 20, In Part 1 of her interview with The Pixel Project below, Kit talks about how she escaped an abusive relationship and came to tell her story in a documentary film.

The second part of her interview will be published February 23, Trigger warning: Parts of this interview may be triggering for women who have survived or are currently facing domestic violence. Please tell us your story of being a survivor.

Traditional rag dolls

In the Fall of , I tried to commit suicide because I could not take the abuse and the terror anymore. It is a long story, but suffice it to say, Jack — my abusive husband — found me after I had taken the pills, took me down to the hospital to be treated, and I survived. Not long after that, I took the boys and fled to New England where I was going to try to hide out and start over.

I got lucky, he was killed in an off-shore accident in August of I had prayed for something to happen, but I never expected that he would be killed because he seemed indestructible, like some kind of superhuman. When his body came back, I went down to the funeral home and sat with him for quite awhile. I could not believe that he was really dead.

I fully expected him to rise up and grab me by the throat one more time.