Monica Garcia is a survivor of domestic violence. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star is putting aside the drama surrounding her involvement with Reality Von Tease for a moment, to shed some light on the reasons for her divorce from Mark Garcia.
Taking to Instagram, Monica said that her ex “was arrested a couple times for domestic violence on me in front of our girls and violations of protective orders.” She went on to say that she had hoped to “bring awareness” to these issues on the show.
You can see the post in full for yourself below.
Monica Garcia says domestic violence was the reason for her divorce, not her affair
Monica says she had “debated” answering questions about her divorce publicly for some time. While her affair “happened over a decade ago,” she denies that was the reason for her marriage ending. Instead, she lays the blame at Mark’s door, for alleged domestic abuse.
“I had hoped to speak about it on the show to help better explain why things are the way they are in my life currently,” Monica explained. “To bring awareness to women dealing with this issue and to help them see that they are not alone.” Unfortunately, that discussion was never brought up on-camera; at least from what audiences saw in Season 4.
Monica encouraged those in similar situations to “see that you can move on from this horrible situation and begin to give your children a better life away from those circumstances.” She said, “there is life after abuse,” and those who do fall victim aren’t to blame for their treatment.
“You have tribes of people ready to carry you through,” Monica concluded.
Wherever you stand on the RHOSLC drama, you have to be rooting for Monica here. Speaking out about abuse is never an easy thing.
If you need somebody to speak to about domestic violence, do not hesitate to reach out. The National Domestic Violence hotline is below.
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233
Hours: 24/7. Languages: English, Spanish and 200+ through interpretation services.
