Addison Russell placed on administrative leave amid domestic violence investigation

Addison Russell was not with the Chicago Cubs for their game against the Chicago White Sox on Friday, and it sounds as if he will not return to the team for the remainder of the season in the wake of some new domestic violence allegations that surfaced against him.

Russell’s ex-wife, Melisa Reidy, filed for divorce over a year ago citing domestic violence. At the time, Major League Baseball launched an investigation that Reidy declined to cooperate with. But after a blog post Reidy published earlier this week detailed some of the abuse she endured, Russell was placed on paid administrative leave.

Here’s the statement from @mlb on Addison Russell: pic.twitter.com/QdoIxTT3YC

— Laurence Holmes (@LaurenceWHolmes) September 21, 2018

In her post, Reidy encouraged women who are victims of domestic violence to not stay silent. She also detailed some of what she went through while married to Russell.

“Emotional/verbal abuse started way before I even realized, eventually it started to be an everyday thing,” Reidy wrote. “Being blamed for just about anything that went wrong, name calling, intimidating me with personal force, manipulating me to think I was the problem, destroying my personal things, threatening me to “send” me & our son home to my parents as if I was privileged to be living in our home. Basically, I felt like I was nothing, a nobody & I was nothing without him, & I couldn’t do anything without him.”

Reidy also said that she was “cheated on with so many different women” and lost confidence in herself. She recalled being “in shock” the first time Russell abused her but said she forgave him and chalked it up to him letting his emotions get the best of him.

Russell, 24, was first accused publicly of domestic violence when Reidy and a friend ripped him on social media last year.