Former New York Giants kicker Josh Brown admitted this week to physically and emotionally abusing his ex-wife, though he claims some of the allegations against him are untrue. Perhaps more importantly, Brown says the NFL knew about all of it.
In an interview with “Good Morning America” that aired on Thursday, Brown said he never “beat” his ex-wife but that he did put his hands on her.
“The world now thinks that I beat my wife,” he said. “And I never hit this woman, not once. … I had put my hands on her. I kicked the chair. I held her down. The holding down was the worst moment in our marriage. I never hit her. I never slapped her. I never choked her. I never did those types of things.”
Brown was suspended one game this season stemming from a 2015 incident in which he was arrested after his ex-wife Molly claimed he grabbed her by the wrist during an argument. An officer said he saw a bruise on Molly’s hand and believed Josh had gotten physical with her, but there were no charges.
The NFL, which set a baseline of a six-game suspension for domestic violence offenders after the nightmare that was the Ray Rice situation, chose to suspend Brown for just one game. The Giants did not release Brown until personal journal entries he had written in 2013 were made public by police. In the entries, Brown admitted to abusing his then-wife “physically, emotionally and verbally.” He says league officials were aware of all of that.
“The league has known everything,” Brown said. “The fact that my private things (the journal entries) are being used against me, that’s hard to swallow. I had to learn all that and write that down in order to heal, and now you’re telling me I’m going to be punished for trying to correct the things in my life that needed to be changed.
“Domestic violence is not just physical abuse. We’re talking intimidation and threats, the attempt to control, body language. An abuser is going to abuse to a certain degree to acquire some type of reaction.
If the NFL knew that Brown had held his wife down and still only suspended him one game, that further illustrates the incompetence of the league when it comes to handling domestic violence cases. Roger Goodell even defended the decision to suspend Brown just one game when asked about it in October.
Brown said he hopes to play in the NFL again, but the chances of that happening are slim. You can watch his GMA interview below:
WATCH: Ex-NFL star Josh Brown opens up on domestic abuse allegations in an @ABC News Exclusive with @paulafaris: https://t.co/AotUbNVARE pic.twitter.com/PilkS65UUr
— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 2, 2017
