This article discusses domestic abuse.
Anna Kendrick is continuing to speak out about her past abusive relationship.
Anna, 39, first detailed her experiences of “emotional” and “psychological” abuse in 2022, when she said that the film Alice, Darling — in which she plays a woman stuck in an abusive relationship — largely “resonated” with her past relationship.
Anna described her now-ex-partner of over six years as her “husband” for “all intents and purposes.”
Last week, Anna recalled shifting from her classic comedy acting roles after her relationship ended, noting that she felt she was “being forced into a place of performance and dishonesty.”
“I think I’d hit a point of critical mass, where it felt like... Oh boy, here we go… I think what was happening at that time was I was being forced into a place of performance and dishonesty in my private life,” she said. “I just couldn’t spend another second breathing dishonest air.”
Now, Anna has shed more light on the past relationship during the latest episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast.
When asked about the moment she realized the relationship was abusive, Anna said, “It didn’t follow the traditional pattern, which is kind of yet another reason why I was finding it really difficult to identify it and name it as abusive.”
“So, the relationship was seven years. But it was like an overnight switch, and that went on for about a year,” she continued. “It came out of absolutely nowhere but was built on this foundation of...love and trust.”
“I turned my life completely upside down trying to fix whatever was wrong with me,” she added.
Anna went on to note that it was especially difficult for her to identify the abuse because her couple’s therapist repeatedly sided with her ex.
“It didn’t help that for a long period of time, our couple’s therapist just bought his stuff, kind of hook, line, and sinker,” she recalled.
“I’ve had several sessions with him in the last several years where he’s apologized to me ‘cause I think he realized what was going on right toward the end,” she shared.
“But yeah, that obviously made everything a lot more complicated,” she added.
Speaking further about couple’s therapy, Anna recalled trying her best to stay calm during sessions.
“I always felt like I was trying to stay so calm in couple’s therapy because I was like, ‘Fuck, in these sessions, he’s so able to stay calm in a way that he does not do when we’re outside of therapy,’” she said.
“And then there was a day again toward the end where I really kind of lost my shit,” she recalled. “And I did think, Oh my God, what have I done? It’s gonna be so bad now... How bad is it gonna get now that I’ve yelled?”
After the session, Anna went so far as to email the therapist to apologize for yelling. She recounted, “I sent the therapist an email being like, ‘I’m so embarrassed, I’m so sorry, I need to control myself.’”
To Anna’s surprise, her therapist called her shortly afterwards. “He called me, which he hadn’t done before, and was like, ‘No, no, I’m so proud of you,’” she shared.
At this point, Anna realized something had “shifted,” and the relationship “ended pretty quickly” afterwards.
You can listen to Anna’s full Call Her Daddy episode here.
For anonymous, confidential help with domestic abuse, you can call the 24/7 National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or chat with an advocate via the website.