You may never admit it, but you know the truth.
You witnessed things.
You heard the tone, saw the tears, noticed the shifts in energy when we walked into the room.
You were there when stories didn’t add up, when someone was humiliated behind closed doors and praised in public.
You may have seen bruises—or maybe you just saw how carefully we had to manage their moods.
You knew.
And you stayed silent.
Worse—you chose a side.
And it wasn’t the truth.
Your Loyalty Was Never Neutral
Let’s be clear: supporting someone who has abused, manipulated, or betrayed others is not “staying out of it.” It’s enabling.
When you uphold the version of reality where the abuser is always the victim,
When you erase the truth because it’s inconvenient,
When you comfort the liar and shame the one they harmed,
You are no longer innocent.
You are participating in the abuse.
And when you do this as a family member—or a stepchild—it is a betrayal that cuts especially deep.
Because you could have stood for truth.
You could have chosen decency over loyalty.
You could have asked questions.
But you didn’t.
You protected an image.
You protected a man.
You protected a lie.
To the Stepchildren Who Know
You may think I’m writing this out of bitterness. I’m not. I’m writing this from a place of sorrowful clarity.
You knew what he was capable of. I told you myself—years ago. I sat across from you in France and revealed the abuse, thinking you’d want to know.
You saw how your father treated me.
You may even have known about his affair.
Yet instead of courage, you chose complicity.
Instead of questioning his version of events, you repeated them.
And when your loyalty was tested—not by blood, but by morality—you failed.
This isn’t just a failure of compassion. It’s a failure of character.
To the Families Who Hide Behind “We Don’t Get Involved”
Please stop pretending that neutrality is noble.
When you stay silent in the face of emotional abuse, domestic violence, gaslighting, and manipulation—you are involved.
When you help cover up an affair or dismiss a survivor’s story—you are involved.
When you freeze out the person who dared speak the truth, while continuing family dinners with the abuser—you are involved.
You are telling every woman and child in your orbit:
“If you ever need help… don’t come to us. We’ll choose appearances every time.”
You Don’t Have to Like Me to Stand for What’s Right
I don’t need your love.
I don’t need your approval.
But I did—once—hope for your decency.
I believed, perhaps naively, that even if you didn’t understand me, you’d have the humanity to see the damage being done.
I hoped that once the truth came to light, you’d do the right thing.
But here we are.
And I see you for who you are now—not as victims of manipulation, but as extensions of it.
This is My Line in the Sand
I will no longer plead to be understood by people who are committed to misunderstanding me.
I will no longer mourn the loss of people who were never truly standing beside me.
And I will never again keep the peace at the expense of my truth.
To those who support lies: may your conscience catch up to your silence.
To those who choose comfort over courage: may you never be on the receiving end of the betrayal you helped justify.
To the rest of us—those who survived the abuse and the betrayal that followed—know this:
We are not alone.
And we are building a new kind of family.
One built on truth, empathy, and healing.
#NotThePersonYouThinkTheyAre
#SupportSurvivors
#FamilyDoesntMeanSilence
#StepchildrenAndComplicity
#BreakTheCycle
#EmotionalAbuseAwareness
#StopEnablingAbuse
#LoyaltyIsNotAnExcuse
#HealingOutLoud
