Blake Jenner, the Glee actor, was arrested and charged with DUI on July 16. Jenner reportedly failed to stop at a red light, prompting police to pull him over. Later, the actor was arrested for a minor DUI. The event, however, drew attention to his failed marriage with Supergirl’s Melissa Benoist, who had previously spoken out about being assaulted in their relationship.
Melissa Benoist’s claims against ex-husband Blake Jenner
Blake Jenner’s ex-wife Melissa Benoist, who married him in 2015, disclosed in 2019 that she was a victim of domestic abuse. Melissa revealed months of violence from her former spouse in an emotional Instagram video.
She says in the video:
“I am a victim of domestic abuse, often known as IPV (intimate partner violence), which is something I never anticipated to utter, much alone broadcast into the ether.””
While Benoist did not identify her alleged abuser, she characterized him as a “magnanimous guy, who really didn’t give you an option not to be pulled to him.” The 33-year-old actress further said that the individual “may be charming, witty, cunning, or malicious.”
She continued, saying:
“I wasn’t interested in a long time. I was freshly alone, finding my footing at a moment of transition in my life, making rash choices… However, in the middle of it all, he became a buddy. A buddy who made me laugh and feel less alone, who made me feel unique and valuable, and then when we began dating, it was a zero to sixty catapult… He adored me. I believed I loved him and could make it work.”
The actress also stated that the abuse was not initially physical, but that the abuser eventually started threatening her privacy by monitoring her technological gadgets. When she left their residence, the abuser would also make her change her clothing. The actress went on to say that “work, in general, was a difficult issue” for her abuser, and she claimed:
“He didn’t want me kissing or even having flirty moments with males, which was really difficult for me to avoid, so I started declining auditions, job offers, test agreements, and friendships because I didn’t want to harm him.”
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Blake Jenner’s oblique response to the charges
Blake Jenner commented on Instagram on October 9, 2020, and obliquely addressed Benoist’s charges. The actor said in the statement that he accepts “full responsibility” for his conduct and mentioned:
“I accept full responsibility and accountability for the emotional, mental, and, yes, physical harm I caused throughout my relationship with my previous partner.”
Blake Jenner also alleged that in one of the events, he threw his phone recklessly, striking his ex-girlfriend “in the face.” He stated:
“I stopped in amazement and fear as my then-partner yelled in pain, her eye swelled shut from the force of the phone. It’s a memory I’ll have for the rest of my life.”
Benoist recalled getting smacked in the face with an electrical gadget in a 2019 Instagram post. The force of the phone “tore my iris, almost burst my eyeball, lacerated my skin, and shattered my nose,” she said. Blake Jenner also said that he intended to “improve” himself and that he “will never regress to making the same errors ever again.”
