Rebecca Humphries has spoken about coercive control at the House of Commons.
Humphries made headlines last year when she split from comedian Seann Walsh, following pictures in the tabloids of Walsh and his Strictly Come Dancing partner Katya Jones kissing.
At the time Humphries refused to do any interviews but issued a statement on social media in which she described how Walsh had behaved during their relationship. She wrote: "this whole business has served to remind me that I am a strong, capable person who is now free; and no victim. I have a voice and will use it by saying this to any woman out there who deep down feels worthless and trapped with a man they love." Read the full statement here.
The talk was chaired by MP Khalid Mahmood MP and also featured speakers Afsana Lachaux, Huda Jawad and Peter Manning OBE. It was centred around last month’s trial of Salamat Khan, who was found guilty of coercive control after imposing a ‘traditional’ regime on his family after two of his daughters refused to enter arranged marriages.
Humphries told Metro how she became involved: "It sort of goes back to that time in October last year, when all of that stuff happened to do with Strictly. A woman called Aisha Ali-Khan, who is a writer and co-organiser of the Women’s March, was incredibly supportive of me...When it happened, I was offered interviews and features and spreads, everywhere you could possibly think of, but not only did I feel that everything I had to say, I’d already said within the statement, but also, I didn’t want to misrepresent myself in any way, so I turned all of it down. After quite a traumatic time, I wanted to focus on retraining myself and finding my own voice....Aisha got back in touch with me a couple of weeks ago with this opportunity to speak at the House of Commons."
After doing it Humphries tweeted: "Legally Ginge. So grateful to @aak1880 & @khalid4PB for asking me to speak. I opened with how incredible I am at singing Celine Dion at karaoke, quoted RuPaul, & talked about how the word ‘gaslighting’ gave me my voice. Share your experiences. Feel the fear & do it anyway."
