Alice Glass has posted a new statement online claiming that she left Crystal Castles due to physical and sexual abuse at the hands of Ethan Kath.
The singer left the band in 2014, citing personal and professional reasons. Now a new statement published on her website has revealed more about this, and makes harrowing abuse charges against co-founder Ethan Kath.
She opens: "I’ve been very guarded about the information I’ve given and I haven’t publicly named names—because I’ve been afraid. I’ve been threatened and harassed and as a result, out of fear, I’ve been silenced."
The singer explains that the momentum behind #metoo has given her the courage to speak out, revealing more about her experiences in the group.
Alice Glass says that she began having a sexual relationship with Ethan Kath when she was still underage, and that following their first encounter "he went to great lengths to find me again, stalking me and driving past my high school looking for me."
"[Ethan] was very manipulative towards me. He figured out my insecurities and exploited them: he used the things he learned about me against me. Over a period of many months, he gave me drugs and alcohol and had sex with me in an abandoned room at an apartment he managed. It wasn’t always consensual and he remained sober whenever we were together."
The blog details the psychological damage she claims to have endured during her time in Crystal Castles, and it also makes claims of escalating physical abuse at the hands of her band-mate.
"He became physically abusive. 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. He took pictures of my bruises and posted them online. I tried to leave, and he swore that it would never happen again, that he would never physically abuse me again. More severe psychological and emotional abuse took its place."
She ends: "Leaving Crystal Castles was the single most difficult decision I’ve ever made—that band was everything to me. My music, my performances and my fans were all I had in the world. I gave that up and started over not because I wanted to but because I had to."
"As difficult as it was, I knew that leaving was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It has taken me years to recover from enduring almost a decade of abuse, manipulation and psychological control. I am still recovering."
Read the full blog HERE.
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