'Supergirl' star Melissa Benoist opens up about being 'a survivor of domestic violence'

"Supergirl" star Melissa Benoist in an Instagram post revealed she is a survivor of domestic violence. "Life Isn't Always What It Seems," Benoist wrote along with the video.

The 31-year-old shared with her followers a 14-minute-long video on Instagram story on Wednesday, in which she opened up about being "a survivor of domestic violence, or IPV, intimate partner violence."

The actress revealed that she suffered the violence by the hands of a man younger than her, never revealing his name. Sharing the details of their tumultuous relationship, Benoist said her own past hindered her from knowing signs of a toxic relationship and said she went along with the abuse in the hope to save their relationship.

Sharing that the abuse was not violent at first, Benoist said, "At first it reared its head at me under guise of common dysfunction, coming from his insecurity and depression. He confided in me the tragedies that he had experienced, the injustices and the insecurities that he had been dealt. It was all very real and easy to sympathise."

She added that her abuser was insecure and possessive who would start getting jealous when she was around other men. Benoist claimed that the man used to tell her to change her clothes so that others would not look at her and used to get upset when she would have to interact or act flirtatious scenes with a male co-star.

"Work, in general, was a touchy subject. He didn't want me ever kissing or even having flirtatious scenes with men, which was very hard for me to avoid, so I began turning down auditions, job offers, test deals, and friendships because I didn't want to hurt him," the actress said.

Benoist confessed the first incident of physical violence occurred five months into their relationship when he threw a smoothie at her face, and later it became more physically aggressive with punches and blows.

"I learned what it felt like to be pinned down and slapped repeatedly, punched so hard the wind was knocked out of me, dragged by my hair across pavement, head-butted, pinched until my skin broke, shoved into a wall so hard the drywall broke, choked," she revealed, adding that "door was inevitable broken down" when she tried to lock herself behind them.

Benoist said she decided to put an end to the relationship after her abuser threw an iPhone at her face, allegedly tearing her iris to the point where it nearly ruptured her eyeball, broke her nose and gave her a fat lip. She said she had to fabricate a story about the injury and even shared the false story during an appearance on "The Tonight Show" starring Jimmy Fallon.

Benoist married "What/If" actor Blake Jenner in 2015, but filed for divorce a year later in December 2016. Her divorce with the 27-year-old actor was finalised in 2017. She was previously linked to photographer Nick Vorderman as well. Benoist is currently married to her "Supergirl" co-star Chris Wood, reports Entertainment Tonight.