The Challenge Australia 2022 winner Kiki Morris has opened up about her experience with her abusive ex-boyfriend.
**CONTENT WARNING: The following discusses domestic abuse and may be distressing for some readers.
In 2020, Kiki’s ex Jeremy Banks pleaded guilty to “pinning her to a couch by her throat and slapping her” in their home in May 2018, reports news.com.au.
And during the latest episode of her Yours&Ours podcast, Kiki got candid about abusive relationships.
“If you look at the history of my relationships in the past… I’ve been the peacekeeper,” she told her co-host and boyfriend Jorge Darek.
“I haven’t left at the first red flag because you become so easily brainwashed and you want to see the best in a person.”
The Bachelor Australia 2016 star then explained why many women in abusive relationships find it difficult to leave.
“So many young women out there allow the emotional abuse … [to] wear them down and they become almost a prisoner of the abuse,” she said.
“The idea of leaving and then something worse happening than staying is what holds people almost like a prisoner in that circumstance.”
The Challenge‘s Kiki Morris gives advice to women in abusive relationships
Kiki then urged women to “know they deserve respect at all times”.
“[Women] don’t deserve to be spoken down to, they don’t deserve to be physically assaulted, taunted, or threatened,” she said.
“In those moments where those things are happening, don’t desensitise yourself [to it] by saying, ‘oh, he’ll change, or he doesn’t mean it’.
“You need to have a standard of what you’re willing to accept and if that standard is not being delivered to you, you’re no longer available to that person.”
She added: “If you need to get the police involved, if you need to get family members involved and leave the house, you should definitely do it at the first opportunity.”
Kiki finished off by stressing the importance of trusting your gut instinct.
“If you see a family member and you have a gut instinct that something doesn’t sit right or something might be going on in that household or relationship, the best thing you can do to help that person is raising a red flag,” she finished.
If you or anyone you know is struggling and needs support, call1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or Lifeline on 13 11 14, both of which provide trained counsellors you can talk with 24/7. You can also talk to someone from 1800RESPECT via online chat. If you are in immediate danger, call 000.
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