Janay Rice Reflects on Ray Rice Abuse, Testifies They've Grown Closer to God
Janay Rice is speaking up and making apologies after a video went viral showing her husband, former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, knocking her unconscious a few months ago.
Janay spoke in depth to ESPN about the domestic violence incident that she has a hard time remembering, but acknowledged that things turned violent after an argument caused her to reach for Ray's phone and the football star to react by spitting at her. She described slapping him in response, which then resulted in him knocking her unconscious in an Atlantic City, N.J. elevator.
Still, Janay chose to marry the football player the next month - last March. While she insists this was an isolated incident of abuse that both she and Ray took responsibility for, Janay understood some questioned her decision to marry a man who was violent toward her.
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The pair had been together for seven years and engaged for two before officially getting married last March. While Janay insisted that the domestic violence event would not change her love for her husband, she is convinced the video of the incident that went viral in September was a trick of the devil for the Christian couple who attended Pro Athletes Outreach (PAO), a Christian counseling conference for professional athletes in San Diego.
"How was seeing it going to help me? I knew that would only bring me back there," Janay said of the video footage. "After Ray watched it, I asked him not to look at it again, because I knew it was only the devil trying to come in and ruin how far we've come. I refused to go backwards."
Although her family showed concern for Janay and questioned if the incident was the only time Ray put his hands on her, she insisted it was and chose to work through her relationship. Still, Janay insisted that raising domestic violence awareness was important to she and her husband.
"We saw the impact of domestic violence on families from the time we spent last year at House of Ruth, a domestic violence center in Baltimore, serving holiday meals to women and their families," she said.
After the turbulent events that took place in her life and played out in the media, Janay insists the couple has grown closer to God.
"I have grown closer to God. My faith has gotten me through each day," she insisted. "It's been hard accepting the fact that God chose us for this, but at the same time it's put us in the position to help others. If it took our situation becoming headline news to show domestic violence is happening in this country, that's a positive."
Earlier this year, TMZ revealed that Ray and Janay became born-again Christians.
"Our sources say Ray and his wife have gotten deep into religion since the February incident, and they were both baptized in March when they decided to become born-again Christians," a TMZ report read last September. "We're also told they've also done religious mentoring with other couples ... including NFL players and their wives."
