After 20+ years of being on my own, I have a wonderful, loving husband but my former husband was abusive. It is insidious and usually doesn't just happen at once and builds up over time with emotional abuse turning more and more physical. I left with the clothes on my back when he threatened my life, changed my name and moved VERY far away. Fortunately, back then there wasn't "social media" like today and no real way to find me and without a child, no legal connection. He remarried within weeks of the divorce I heard, to a teenager that worked for his business (I suspected the affair). But speaking from experience, it's SO hard to leave especially if you've built up this fairy tale life to the outside world and if you have a child you may feel you can "work it out". My heart aches for this lovely young woman.
