… see what had happened, only to find my home torn apart and my sister with a huge, red knot on her face. She was angry, embarrassed and afraid. The other person there told me she “fell,” but I ordered that person to leave immediately as I comforted my sister. The next morning when I went to check on her, I found she had let the person back into my home. I was furious and demanded they both leave. While we eventually reconciled, it wasn’t until we had gone without speaking for months.
Soon after declaring my Shine a Light project earlier this year, I opened up about this experience and the life and death of my sister at an event. After sharing, a “reporter” shrugged off Renate’s story, dismissing me as just another person with a painful story. As this reporter’s reaction and the tweet I had received simmered in my mind, a lighter voice drowned it all out. The voice was my father saying that I was doing the right thing. Since that day, I have teamed up with my phenomenal producers and a group of women like no other as we move closer and closer to the light. These survivors are now the faces of my Shine a Light. Their stories are hard to hear but where they are no in their lives is an inspiration with great power — power to even save a life.”
For those suffering from domestic violence and don’t know what to do, click here for the Domestic Violence hotline