[MUSIC PLAYING]
So I stayed because, of course, I didn't wanna fail.
I didn't want--
I didn't wanna hurt anyone, especially Mrs.--
Miss Heard.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
All right, we're ready for the jury?
BAILIFF: Yes. JUDGE: OK.
Miss Heard-- in her frustration
and in her rage and her anger, she would strike out.
She would-- it could begin with a slap.
It could begin with a shove.
It could begin with, you know, throwing
a TV remote at my head.
It could be, uh, throwing a glass of wine in my face.
So I stayed because, of course, I didn't wanna fail.
I didn't want--
I didn't wanna hurt anyone, especially Mrs.--
Miss Heard.
I didn't want to [COUGHS] break her heart.
I-- I remember very well that when my father left,
and my mother, um, Betty Sue, had a--
that first attempted suicide that I woke up
to and that visual in my head--
and that was a direct result of my father's, um, leaving.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
So there was-- there was the physical abuse,
which was-- was a constant.
Um, there was quite a lot of verbal abuse.
It was quite a lot of name-calling
and, um, bullying, you know, making
fun of-- making fun of whatever defects,
you know, one might have.
If my brother wore glasses, so of course, he was four-eyes.
Miss Heard was flinging insults left, right, and center,
and she then grabbed that bottle and, uh--
and threw that at me.
And then I looked down and realized that the--
the-- the tip of my finger had been severed.
I started to write with my blood-- in my own blood
on the-- on the walls, um, little reminders from our past
that essentially represented lies that she had told me,
lies that I had caught her in.
The doctor asked me what happened, [COUGHS]
and I lied to him.
I said that I had smashed it in, um--
in these large accordion doors.
I didn't want to disclose that it had been Miss
Heard that had thrown the--
thrown a vodka bottle at my--
at me and then took my finger off.
[MUSIC PLAYING]