‘I would have been killed’: Domestic abuse survivor praises EastEnders story for saving her
Trigger warning: This article contains discussion of domestic violence.
A domestic abuse surviver has spoken out about an EastEnders storyline following Gray (Toby-Alexander Smith) and Chantelle Atkins (Jessica Plummer) that helped to save her life.
The woman, who chose not to be named, said she ‘would have been killed’ had she not tuned into the BBC One soap.
Chantelle was killed in 2020, when her violent and abusive husband Gray pushed her onto an opened dishwasher that was loaded with sharp cutlery.
After falling onto a knife, she was shown pleading with her husband to get help.
While it initially looked like he would step up to redeem himself slightly, he instead left her to die. Gray then went for a walk while his partner died, alone, to give himself a credible alibi.
Four years on, a survivor has said that watching the scenes was like seeing her life play out on screen. For almost eight years, she had suffered abhorrent abuse from her partner Bradley Trigg.
She claimed that during their relationship, she was repeatedly beaten to the point she would black out and suffer seizures, and on one occasion was strangled with a phone charger wire.
Speaking to the Coventry Telegraph, the woman spoke openly of the parallels between the fictional relationship and her own: ‘I was watching the storyline, I was thinking “this is me. I am Chantelle”.
Gray later pleaded guilty for his crimes (Picture: BBC)
‘I was leaving my house smiling, telling everyone “I am absolutely fine” but the minute I closed the door, I was with this absolute monster.’
She continued: ‘Obviously Gray killed Chantelle. that is when it hit alarm bells for me and I said “If I don’t get out and I am living Chantelle’s life, he is going to end up killing me”
‘That was my main trigger point of saying “I need to get out”.’
To document her injuries she set up a private Instagram profile, and collected over 130 photographs.
His controlling behaviour began when he started to check her phone, but later progressed to a point when he would use violence to control her.
When she eventually found the courage to leave, she found herself withdrawing from his presence and feeling that she ‘needed to be abused’.
After leaving him in 2021, Trigg went on to hire vans to follow her around the area. After hearing he had abuse another woman, the two collectively reported him and he later pleaded guilty to coercive and controlling behaviour and threats to kill.
He was sentenced to three years and six months in jail.
On her decision to speak out about her story, she hoped it would help other victims to break free, as the soap had done with her: ‘Part of the reason why I wanted to talk, when I look back at it and I know the impact that EastEnders had on me, if my story helps just one victim, that is one life I could help save.’
The interview has since been shared with Toby-Alexander Smith on X/Twitter, who added: ‘Wow! So brilliant.’
