"It has taken me years to recover from enduring almost a decade of abuse, manipulation and psychological control."
"It has taken me years to recover from enduring almost a decade of abuse, manipulation and psychological control."
Text: Christina Cacouris
Alice Glass of Canadian electo-pop group Crystal Castles posted a harrowing statement to her website detailing verbal and sexual abuse by her former bandmate, Ethan Kath (real name Claudio Palmieri). The singer, who left the duo in 2014 to pursue a solo career, described how Kath continually diminished her contributions to the group, concocting a story that their first single "Alice Practice" was a mic test that was unintentionally recorded, and would go on to take credit for the majority of her work for the group.
More disturbingly, Glass goes on to describe the physical abuse she endured at the hands of Kath: "He held me over a staircase and threatened to throw me down it. He picked me up over his shoulders and threw me onto concrete," she wrote. "He controlled everything I did... he forced me to have sex with him or, he said, I wouldn't be allowed to be in the band anymore."
Kath vehemently denies the accusations, calling it "pure fiction" and claiming he has witnesses that will disprove her accusations, but many took to Twitter to support Glass:
my heart aches reading this. sending you so much love. you are full of powerful magic. ????
— Lorde (@lorde) October 25, 2017
The stories had been bubbling for yrs. and now it's finally out: https://t.co/NCK5Z7KkYe
— Kim Taylor Bennett (@theKTB) October 25, 2017
I'm sure it must have been painful to write & more painful yet to have lived. I think you will help many girls with your courage. #respect
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) October 25, 2017
"Leaving Crystal Castles was the single most difficult decision I've ever made—that band was everything to me," she wrote. "I am still recovering."
Read the full statement here.