It might start with a backhanded compliment out of the blue. Then they’ll become an everyday thing. And then they’re not just backhanded compliments, but flat-out insults. They’re meant to put you down and lower your self-esteem, so no matter how poorly they make you feel, they’ll make you want to stay with the person saying them, because you’ll feel they’re doing you a favor by being with you. That you’re so terrible that you couldn’t possibly deserve them, and shouldn’t take this golden opportunity for granted. But the truth of the matter is, you don’t deserve verbal abuse (or any type of abuse, for that matter) in a relationship, and the person abusing you doesn’t deserve you in the first place. It might be hard to remember this because you feel so low about yourself, but there are people that have been through it and shared their stories of how much healthier they are without it.
What would Aishwarya Rai Bachchan do? Dubbed by the media as “the most beautiful woman in the world”, it seems hard to believe that she could have gone through a bout of verbal and emotional abuse in a relationship when she could probably have her pick of any gentleman out there. But the thing is, anybody can verbally abuse you, and sometimes without even realizing they’re doing it (this is not to say they’re innocent, just idiots). In 2001, Rai split with bollywood actor and then-boyfriend Salman Khan, whom she said also physically abused her, in addition to the verbal and emotional abuse she suffered. Her choice to go public with this information and talk about it has made it that much easier for other victims of abuse to share their stories, in hopes to prevent this kind of thing in the future. While we agree that Rai is exceedingly beautiful, her wisdom, grace, and class should also be noted. Perhaps in response to it, Rai shared these words to live by, “Right now, I’m following the Buddhist principle: Smile as abuse is hurled your way and this too shall pass.”
