“My therapist always said take the power back,” explained Jana Kramer about her decision to play the title character in Lifetime’s Gaslit By My Husband: The Morgan Metzer Story. As a domestic abuse survivor, the country singer and actress was drawn to the story of an abused woman taking control of her life and getting out of a bad situation. “I wanted to be able to help other women through my past experiences. I've done that with pretty much everything that I've been through. And I'm always like, all right, if this happened to me, why? And now that I have a platform, then let me help other people through my pain.”
(Lifetime)
The film tells the true story of Morgan Metzer, a woman who found herself in a nightmare marriage to her high school sweetheart. Joining Jana Kramer during a virtual press conference was Morgan Metzer herself. “I didn't know who I was for so long,” Morgan revealed about the process of rebuilding her life post-divorce. “I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I didn't know what was right or what was wrong. It's pretty much relearning and remapping everything for me. And once I started making those decisions by myself and seeing that everything's okay and I'm in charge of myself and seeing that things do work out, I got the confidence that, yes, I can do this life. I don't need somebody to tell me, ‘Oh, no, you're doing this wrong,’ or, ‘No, that's not the best decision.’ So I'm still to this day learning myself and saying, ‘Okay, well, I have a different opinion than you, that's okay to have that.’ Before, I wasn't allowed to have a different opinion, so that has given me my power back. Getting to know myself and having that drive to raise awareness, especially with this movie.”
Morgan’s husband, Rodney Metzer (played by Austin Nichols in the film) used a lot of manipulation tactics on his wife, keeping her in the dark about her legal rights. “I didn't think you could get raped by your husband,” Morgan revealed. “I thought that was something you're supposed to just serve and take care of. And after watching that movie, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I was raped countless times. I wish I would have spoke up beforehand. I could’ve gotten out earlier. For us women, to be able to speak out and say that, and know that we can get help versus being stuck in a relationship knowing that you are being taken advantage of, is really important.”
“I never got to have closure with my abuser,” added Jana Kramer, who was excited to deliver a monologue as Morgan to Rodney in court, the text of which is accurate to Morgan Metzer’s real speech. “The fact that I was able to go through your words, Morgan, ‘No, love is not this, love is not that,’ when you're in that moment of being in an abusive relationship, you don't really know what love actually is supposed to look, feel, or be like. So to remember to say those words is a powerful thing, and I'm so grateful that you wrote those words because I think that'll be a great reminder to the viewers who watch this.”
“The more we speak, the more we talk, the more we're going to raise awareness,” concluded Morgan Metzer about wanting to have her story told through Lifetime’s Gaslit By My Husband: The Morgan Metzer Story. “I feel like women need to learn to speak with each other, talk to each other, share stories. It doesn't mean that we're all going to look bad, but we're not going to see certain things.” As depicted in the film, one of Morgan’s paths out of her situation was through her best friend Nicole, played by Abigail Esmena. “If I hadn't started talking to Nicole, I really feel like I probably wouldn't have made it out. Women don't need to be scared to speak out. Speak with each other, and not act like everything is so perfect.”
Gaslit By My Husband: The Morgan Metzer Story premieres tonight, Sunday, June 9th, at 8/7c on Lifetime.