Australian tennis star Jelena Dokic has revealed the terrifying fact behind a significant change she undertook in the course of her profession.
The former prime 5 tennis star turned media persona has by no means shied away from detailing and talking about her harrowing upbringing.
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The 39-year-old has been open together with her struggles with despair, on-line abuse, physique shaming and the household violence she suffered all through her profession.
Dokic revealed the horrific abuse she suffered by the hands of her father throughout her tennis profession in her e book Unbreakable.
Now in an eye-opening publish shared on Instagram, Dokic has detailed the extent of the abuse and the way it led her to trying suicide.
“What is the most common comment I see when it comes to my body, size and weight? ‘What happened to her? I can barely recognise her’,” Dokic mentioned.
“Really? What happened? You can’t recognise me? Let me tell you what happened.
“I survived being a refugee twice, I was bullied, I lived in a domestic violence filled home for 15 years and I was beaten unconscious, I was abused physically and emotionally and got beaten for the first time when I was six years, I was called a whore and a cow since I was as young as 11. I had to escape home, I battled anxiety, depression, PTSD and trauma and I almost committed suicide.”
The caption got here alongside two photographs of the tennis commentator, one displaying her in the course of her profession whereas the opposite was her in her media position.
She says the reality behind the picture is that regardless of her immense success all through her profession, she’s happier being a dimension 16 in comparison with a dimension 4.
The picture reveals bruising on her leg and it says the whole lot about her tragic actuality.
“I still managed to do pretty well, I managed to be top five in the world as tennis player and a grand slam finalist, I am a best-selling author, commentator and speaker but most importantly I survived. So, while you see a weight and size change, I will tell you the difference between these two images,” she mentioned of the photographs above.
“The one on the left is a size four, scared to death, beaten unconscious and that bulge on my shins is from being kicked all night.
“The one on the right is me at size 16, I have survived it all and I am here healing from my trauma and thriving.
“I will take the size 16 over the size 4 any day if it means I am happy.
“If it means I turned to food to try and survive, then so be it. But I am here, I am happy and most importantly I made it through.
“So, there is the answer, once and for all. I went through hell and back and I survived and today I try to help others.
“That’s what happened. And for those that still don’t get the point, well that says everything about you. Beauty isn’t about being a certain size, beauty is having a beautiful heart and soul.
“I will leave it at that.”
It’s not the primary publish the place Dokic has revealed the hellish conditions she suffered via throughout her enjoying days, sharing photos of her legs coated in bruises.
“Swollen, bruised and bleeding shins from being beaten and kicked all night with sharp shoes right into my shins for losing a match,” she posted on Instagram.
“These images were taken more than two weeks later and I was still heavily bruised. I was 17 years old.
“To this day I still have sensitive and bumpy shins from this beating.
“From every wound there is a scar and these are mine. I have survived but not everyone woman and girl has or will.
“And that’s the sad reality.”
Dokic has been an outspoken advocate after struggling home violence by the hands of her father Damir.
In her e book Unbreakable, Dokic wrote: “A mediocre training session, a loss, a bad mood — any of these trigger him to bring out the belt. My losing particularly sends my father into a rage. I rarely lose but when I do the consequence is brutal.
“Then he tells me to take off my shirt. It hurts a lot less when you have your shirt on and that’s why he makes me take it off. I stand in my bra, my back to him, and he orders me not to move as he hits me. Often he almost slices my skin with the belt.”
Source: www.news.com.au