Mel B Instagram – Thank you @the.independent this show @bbc_happyvalley resonates with millions of women like me. Not just great drama but raising awareness to an important cause of domestic abuse. Having experienced abuse for ten years myself I know this means so much to me and women like me if you need help @womens_aid is here to support you. No longer should we feel ashamed but the complexities of abuse and the silence is all on show here. People still to this day say – Why don’t you just leave? Why don’t you tell anyone? Why don’t you go and find help? It’s all here. it never ends. Abuse has NOT stoped for me,HE still finds ways to control me AND financially abuse me and I’m five years out of that coercive horrifying degrading relationship. But Even when you get away you continue to be abused in the family courts. I am doing everything in my power to make change – to public awareness, to the legal system, to the family courts but this show floors me because I know exactly how the character of Joanna felt. I was her. My story is your story #yournotalone #speakout #itsnotyourfault #brutallyhonest #stopabuse #reformthefamilycourts #happyvalley #realtalk #jamesnorton