Blake Jenner is ready to speak out.
The actor broke his nearly 1-year social media silence with a lengthy Instagram statement on Thursday to address what he called a “toxic” relationship he had in the past.
Blake wrote that he’s taken the past 11 months to “reflect” on a period in his life he’d “kept in the darkness out of shame and fear,” adding that he believes it now needs to be acknowledged not only publicly but also “privately with the individual directly affected.”
The 28-year-old did not name his former partner but appeared to be referring to ex-wife Melissa Benoist, who came forward as a domestic violence survivor in a personal video shared late last year.
The “Supergirl” star had also refrained from dropping any names when detailing the alleged abuse she faced in a previous relationship. Melissa described her former partner as younger but with “obvious” maturity and recalled how his patterns of jealousy and manipulation turned allegedly violent.
“The stark truth is 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 said at the time. “I learned to lock myself in rooms but quickly stopped because the door was inevitably broken down. I learned to not value any of my property—replaceable and irreplaceable. I learned not to value myself.”
Melissa is four years Blake’s senior and the pair were married from 2015 to 2017 after meeting on the set of “Glee.”
In his new post, Blake wrote that he takes “full responsibility and accountability” for being “emotionally, mentally and yes, physically” abusive in his past relationship, and referenced an incident Melissa had referred to in her 2019 video in which she claimed her ex threw his phone at her during an argument.
Blake wrote that he did once throw his phone “aimlessly” during an argument that had “escalated,” and it’s a moment he’ll “regret for the rest of [his] life.”
“I froze in a state of shock and horror as my then-partner screamed in anguish, her eye immediately swollen shut from the impact of the phone,” he wrote in part.
Adding, “I am responsible for the pain that I caused her in that moment and beyond.”
Blake went on to recall wanting to divorce his former spouse but feeling obligated to keep the marriage going.
“Even in those moments where I was determined to leave because it would have been the healthier choice, I felt as though I couldn’t leave when someone I loved was asking me to stay. It was a relationship with a foundation rooted in co-dependency, which had dire consequences,” he wrote.
Blake also levied abuse allegations of his own, writing that there are “discrepancies” in his and his ex’s respective versions of events and claiming that he was “scratched,” “slapped” and “punched” on multiple occasions.
The “What/If” star pledged to move forward in making positive changes in his behavior offered well wishes for his ex and her loved ones.
“There are many things that I wish I could have done differently; and while I wish it did not take the pain that was suffered throughout the course of our relationship, I will never regress to making the same mistakes ever again. I will never stop doing the work necessary to better myself in all areas of my life. I wish you and your family nothing but good health, joy and love,” he wrote.
Melissa Benoist from ‘Glee’ to ‘Supergirl’
View GalleryAccess Hollywood has reached out to Melissa’s rep for comment on Blake’s post.
As of Thursday night the actress had yet to publicly respond, but fans rallied across social media on her behalf with the hashtag #IStandWithMelissa. The 32-year-old is now married to her “Supergirl” co-star Chris Wood, and the pair welcomed their first child last month.
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