Now that Ray Rice has been reinstated into the NFL after being dropped from the Baltimore Ravens, his wife Janay Rice is speaking out on The Today Show with Matt Lauer. Sitting alongside her mother, Janay spoke about what her life has been like since the elevator footage of her being punched and dragged by her now-husband was released and struggling to deal with the ridicule thrown at her by the media and fans.
Prior to the incident in the elevator, where Janay says they were “high intoxicated,” she says there was never any domestic violence in their relationship.
“There’s no way. He knows what he would have to deal with. I’m not going to sit there in silence and let something happen to me, God forbid in front of my child, and just let it happen? There’s no way.”
Janay’s mother, Candy Palmer, said that she felt “sick” when she saw the footage of Ray Rice knocking her daughter out cold. She said she was very upset when she saw that he left her on the floor and didn’t show any concern for her as she laid unconscious.
“I basically told him that I didn’t care who was out there at the elevator, you should have never left her out there like that.”
Janay also said that she was not pleased with the way the NFL and the fans reacted to the second video being released, which she says she has never seen.
“I was so angry, hurt [to] seeing the man that I love, have everything ripped up from under him,” she said as she wiped away tears. “We had to pick and our child from where she’s used to…it hurt.”
Watch the interview below. Tomorrow (Dec. 2) Matt Lauer will sit down with Ray Rice and get his side of the story.
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