Profiles

Here, you can find any of the interviews on this site.

Tina

Tina met her long-term partner when she was 16 and the relationship lasted for 30 years. They separated recently after years of emotional, sexual and financial abuse. She is still subject to harassment and financial abuse from her ex, and emotional abuse from her children. She is getting help from a domestic abuse support worker.

  • Background

    Tina is a 50 year old single white British woman, living with her dog and her son’s tortoise in a Housing Association house. She is unable to work owing to...

  • Age at interview 50
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Lolita

    Lolita broke up with her controlling, dominating boyfriend 2-3 months before her interview, after just under one year, her first serious relationship. She had previously been raped by a friend when she was 13. Her recent relationship began as friendship as he lived the other side of the country but he eventually moved in with her. Following episodes of physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse, Lolita found it difficult to get him to leave, eventually getting help from the Police.

  • Background

    Lolita is a 20 yr old black mixed race woman, living alone without children. She works as a school Sports Coach and plans to study for an NVQ in healthcare...

  • Age at interview 20
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Tanya

    Tanya first met her husband when she was 21. They married in 2001 when she was 31, by which time they had three children. Throughout their relationship, her husband was verbally, emotionally and physically abusive to Tanya and also to their children, especially to their daughter. Tanya and her husband were together for 20 years in total and although she left him in 2012, he has refused to sign the divorce papers so four years later she is still legally married to him.

  • Background

    Tanya is a 45 year old white British woman who lives with her three children in a rented home. Educated to degree level, Tanya works part-time and also volunteers for...

  • Age at interview 45
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Catherine

    Raised by a domineering and physically controlling father and a violent alcoholic mother, Catherine's experience of abuse began during her childhood. As an adult, she has been physically attacked, both by an ex-partner and one of her sons. From 2000 she lived in a 12 year negative' marriage, which was characterised by her husband's controlling and manipulative behaviour. (Video clips played by an actor.)

  • Background

    Catherine is a white British woman who lives with her new partner in their owned home. Catherine is doing postgraduate study at university. She has two sons, both in their...

  • Age at interview 46
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Philippa

    Philippa experienced controlling behaviour and physical, emotional and verbal abuse during her 13 year relationship. She left her husband for the final time in 2005 after he threatened to restrict her access to their children. For nine months she and her daughters stayed in a refuge, where she received counselling and support, and was able to feel safe again.

  • Background

    Philippa is a white British woman who lives with her two daughters (16 and 21 years) in their privately rented home. She is single and works full-time in finance.

  • Age at interview 54
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Sophie

    Sophie describes her ex-husband as a clever' and charming' man. However, since their four year marriage ended nearly five years ago, she has been able to recognise that her relationship to him was abusive from the very beginning; that he is a manipulative' and parasitic' individual and that she was just a resource for him'.

  • Background

    Sophie is a well-educated, single white woman who lives with her two children (aged eight and eighteen years at the time of the interview) in their privately owned home. She...

  • Age at interview 49
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Irina

    After experiencing ten years of abuse and constant promises from her husband that he would change, Irina ended the relationship in March 2015, after he became aggressive in front of friends. Although Irina sometimes misses the good times that she had with her 'Prince Charming', she no longer lives in fear or feels like a prisoner in her own home.

  • Background

    Irina is an Eastern European woman who is separated from her husband. She lives in a privately owned apartment with her two children (four and eight years old). Currently unemployed,...

  • Age at interview 33
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Tasha

    Tasha met her abusive ex-partner in 2001. During their nine years together, for six of which they were married, Tasha experienced emotional, sexual and financial abuse. Since the relationship ended in 2010, Tasha has been assaulted physically on two occasions by her ex. At the time of the interview he was continuing to exert control over her through their children, causing her on-going emotional distress.

  • Background

    Tasha, a white British woman, lives with her husband and four of her five children (ages 9 months 21 years) in a privately owned home. She is unemployed, living with...

  • Age at interview 40
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Sarah

    Sarah met her first serious boyfriend when she was 18. Their relationship lasted two years, during which they lived separately, each at their parents homes. Her boyfriend was jealous and possessive, did not like her seeing friends and questioned her in detail about other men' if she went out. She mistook this as a sign of his love, only realising years later that it was the beginning of his controlling, abusive behaviour.

  • Background

    Sarah is a 32 year old happily married white British woman. She does not have children and works full time as a Project Manager in the Civil Service.

  • Age at interview 32
  • Sex/Gender Female
  • Anna

    It wasn't until she had left her long-term partner in 2014 and attended the Freedom Programme that Anna began to recognise the extent of domestic abuse she had experienced for 10 years. Although she has recovered from the physical bruises she is unsure how long the mental side will take to heal'.

  • Background

    Anna is a single, white British woman. She lives in a council property with two of her six children, one of whom has special needs. She works part-time as a...

  • Age at interview 47
  • Sex/Gender Female