"I had my first boyfriend at 16 and stayed in relationships nonstop until six years ago. I was heavy into dating apps, often seeing more than one person at once. In college, I had a serious boyfriend I thought I'd marry. Then, at 24, I met my husband on Match.com. We moved fast: he relocated from Connecticut to Long Island, where I still live, and we married two years later. Shortly after, we had our two sons."
"I didn't realize I was in an emotionally abusive marriage until after it ended. My ex belittled my looks and used " coercive control," a pattern of threats, intimidation, and humiliation to maintain power. My nervous system was constantly on high alert. Only after my sister sent me TikToks about emotional abuse did I recognize the signs. I'd spent so long in survival mode that I stopped seeing myself as a beautiful or sexual person."
Olivia Howell left an emotionally abusive marriage in 2019 and holds sole custody of her two sons. She did not recognize the abuse until after the separation, noting belittling, coercive control, and chronic hypervigilance that eroded her sense of beauty and sexuality. Recovery became the priority, and she launched Fresh Starts Registry to support others navigating divorce. Dating no longer fits her life as a single mother and CEO; she avoids apps and nightlife, rejects outsiders' assumptions of loneliness, and trusts her own timing for when she might feel ready to be intimate again.
Read at Business Insider
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