ITV weather presenter Ruth Dodsworth has opened up about how she's moving on with life with a new partner after decades of abuse from her former husband, who has now been jailed.
For 20 years her ex dictated everything about her life, from the clothes she wore, to where she could go and who she could see, even having a tracker fitted to her car so he could trace her movements, reports WalesOnline.
Now, Ruth has spoken out about her experiences in the hope that she can encourage others going through similar experiences to reach out for help.
The years of abuse have taken their toll, with Ruth saying that she is having to ‘re-learn’ how to live.
She said:"I am healing, I am having to re-learn living. Practical things like wearing what I want. That might sound so trivial to everyone else, but for so long I haven't been able to make those decisions.
"Re-learning how to have a relationship with another man has just been the loveliest thing, but I have had to re-learn behaviours.
“I don't have to hide my phone. I don't have to say where I am every single minute of every day. These are the things I am having to re-learn, but I am doing it.”
Ruth described how about twenty minutes after she bravely spoke out about her harrowing experience, her phone started ringing and ‘didn’t stop for a long time’.
“It has been the most overwhelming experience of my life, but it has been entirely, entirely positive,” she said.
“I didn't really want the story out there but in hindsight I think it was the best thing that ever happened.”
Now, Ruth hopes that her platform will help others to seek help, saying that people had been contacting her with both messages of support to say that her example had helped to recognise patterns of abuse in their own relationships.
“I had no idea the scale of this situation, and the problem,” said Ruth.
“It is horrifying and it is humbling and it is the biggest thing I have been involved in. I just so want one person to hear this and think that if she can do it so can I.
"I have had messages from women, men, young and old, there is no category and everyone's story is different.
"That for me has been the eye-opening thing. It can happen to anyone.”
* If you need help, call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 - it's run by charity Refuge and the free number is in operation 24 hours a day
