Miss New Jersey USA
With just a few more days until I complete for this year’s Miss USA title while representing my beloved state and home of New Jersey, I’ve been taking the time to reflect on my journey behind the sash.
Growing up I was trained to think that relationship abuse was purely physical. This way of thinking that I and so many other young people have come to know has led unhealthy relationship behaviors go unrecognized and tolerated simply because we were not given the tools to identify them.
Forget the typical post-breakup protocol, the healing process from an unhealthy relationship is a long and complicated road. Many victims of relationship abuse suffer in silence. Women can endure consistent, steady patterns of abuse within the walls of their homes, but bravely present a strong, put-together exterior for the world to see.
In early March, stay-at-home orders were put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Suddenly people across the world were instructed to quarantine at home. For most people, inside the walls of their home is a place of security and solace. For others, home can be a dangerous place of abuse.In an instant, domestic violence victims around the world became isolated with their abusers causing domestic violence reports to increase by 35% in the United States, according to the World H
As it turns out, relationship abuse does not discriminate. Domestic violence can happen to any woman of any race, religion, education level, income, or age. A victim of relationship abuse can look like anyone — even Miss New Jersey USA.
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