This was all news to me, but apparently Christina Aguilera’s father was a very abusive man. Christina has opened up about this before, telling USA Today in 2006 that “We lived on Army bases when I was little, and it (domestic violence) was happening a lot. The MPs (military police) would come, but a lot of them were doing the same things (to their wives and kids). I was surrounded with domestic violence, not only in my home but my friends.” CB just pointed out that Christina has been talking openly about her abusive past for years now, and many of these quotes may be old – I think a couple of them are new, but we’ll see.
According to The Sun, Christina and her mother are opening up even more about the abuse for a new E! documentary. Christina tells a story about how, as a four-year-old, her father was so violent, Christina was left “drenched in blood”. It was that incident that made Christina’s mother, Shelly, finally leave. The Sun also has quotes from Christina’s father, Fausto, who sounds like a son of a bitch:
A FOUR-year-old CHRISTINA AGUILERA was left drenched in blood after her father violently attacked her – for innocently disturbing his “nap”.
The pop star and her mum SHELLY KEARNS have opened up about the abuse they suffered at the hands of army sergeant FAUSTO in a new E! documentary.
Shelly recalled: “I scooped her up and said, ‘Oh my God. What’s wrong?’ She told me, ‘Daddy wanted to take a nap and I made too much noise.'”
The alleged horror incident was the final straw for Shelly, who packed up and fled the family home with Christina and her other daughter RACHEL. But the painful memories of her life before that moment remain as vivid as ever for the Beautiful singer.
Christina said: “I witnessed a lot of unpleasant things – a lot of pushing and shoving and fighting and quarrelling. Growing up I did not feel safe. Feeling powerless is the worst feeling in the world.”
Christina also revealed that her passion for music was borne out of her tormented childhood. She added: “I turned to singing as an outlet. The pain at home is where my love for music came from.”
Christina is adamant Fausto’s pleas for forgiveness will always fall on deaf ears. She said: “I let him back into my life briefly but I soon realised that he is not necessary in my life.”
In 2002, Fausto vehemently denied Shelly’s previous allegation that he was “very cruel and abusive” towards his family. He retaliated: “My relationship with her mother was tense and I wasn’t perfect. But I love Christina and her sister Rachel. I never abused them in any way and they know that.”
“Shelly and I disagreed on a lot of things and we both had hot tempers. I’m sorry to have ever raised a hand to my wife, but it was never brutal like IKE and TINA TURNER. Still, even though it’s been exaggerated, I respect Shelly and Christina’s right to remember things differently.”
The couple’s 10-year marriage ended in 1989.
[From The Sun]
I literally had no idea that Christina had this kind of violence in her past. Now I really feel for the girl. I f-cking hate any abuser who uses the “I’m not perfect” excuse as a way to whitewash his actions. It’s like, “Oh, I’m sorry! I hated you because I expected you to be perfect, but now that you’ve reminded me that you’re not, I accept you!” Not so much – and Fausto’s statement re-enforces (for me) the idea that he’s a pathetic, violent man.
Here’s Christina and husband Jordan Bratman on their way to dinner on August 15th. Images thanks to Fame Pictures .
Christina had a couple of songs about it in her album Back to basics , I think one of them was called “Oh’ Mother”.
Christina Aguilera has also supported a lot of charities that concentrate on domestic abuse and often talked about her past in interviews. I genuinely like Christina Aguilera, she seems to have successfully overcome her painful past and it clearly has made her a strong person, so good on her. Also, as for her father, he seems to fallow the same pattern of a typical insensitive, arrogant, ignorant abusive man/person, always continuing to deny any wrong doing even when there is strong evidence of what they did and somehow always end up still blaming their victims, so she was very right to not forgive him and give him the time of day again.
Abusive people don’t seem to think about the consequences when they get older and that they will not always have control over their victims, eventually their children that they might have abused will grow up resenting them and when their partners finally leave them, that is when they realize they will die alone, start to grovel and beg to be forgive and let back in into their victims lives.
wow, I had no idea she had that in her past.
makes her “acting out” when she was a younger pop star a little more understandable.
however, seems like she’s matured quite a bit (though, from what I’ve seen, she needs to reign in her drinking a bit but that behavior could be a result of the abuse) and that she’s got a very good, stable relationship with Bratman, who seems to love and support her very much.
never was really a “fan” of her music, but she has a couple of songs I like and she does have amazing pipes.
Rihanna needs to be reading this, because that would be her future if she gets back with Chris. And if they had children, it would also be theirs. Christina’s father sounds so much like what Chris said.
As for Christina, this is the most incredibly healthy quote I’ve ever heard from an abuse survivor: “I let him back into my life briefly but I soon realised that he is not necessary in my life.” Kudos to her!
Christina still has one of the best voices ever made, in the history of the world.
No wonder she spoke out against Eminem’s horrible lyrics in that Bonnie and Clyde song where he kills his wife. My mom was horribly abused by her first husband (really bad, he made 2 murder attempts on her, one while she was pregnant) and when I heard that song it really pissed me off too. I didn’t like her or her music at the time she did that, but the fact that she dared to speak out against the biggest star of that era did impress me.
Christina and her mother have both alluded to domestic violence on behalf of Fausto for years and years, but I believe this is the first specific example of what exactly happened.
I thought this was common knowledge… Christina has been supporting anti-domestic violence charities for a long time and ever since she was able to do her own thing in her music, she has created songs with that theme and quite graphic lyrics sometimes.
On “Stripped” there’s the song “I’m OK” with lines like “It’s not easy to forget / All the marks you left around her neck / When I was thrown against cold stairs / And every day afraid to come home, in fear of what I might see next”. Christina has only performed that song publickly a few times since it landed on the album (most noticeably, if I remember correctly, at a charity event for victims of domestic violence) because she says it’s too emotional for her to sing it, that she has a hard time getting it out usually.
She is a strong, positive role-model and her whacky sartorial choices should not distract from that. She is smart, savvy and a fantastic singer and song-writer. People really don’t give her enough credit for how she empowers women because they can’t see past the often garish make-up.
Yeah she has been speaking out against domestic abuse since the early 2000’s. Kinda surprised its now being discussed. Most of her cd’s have at least one song on there about her abuse and strength.
She’s been talking about her past over the years but never gave details. Thankfully her mother was able to get them out of that relationship without harm. I wish her the best. She’s one artist who I think will be around for a long time to come.
I have always thought her stance on domestic violence and her bravery for speaking out about her own experience when she was a child was great.
From a few of the comments the father made, he sounds like he doesn’t think he did anything wrong and would do it again.
“disagreed on a lot of things…it was never brutal…it’s been exaggerated… remember things differently.”
Excuses of an abusive asshole. Someone who sees things that way won’t change.
I think she is a great singer, and a very positive role model. I think that she had a phase where she acted out a bit, but she clearly has grown from that place. I really liked Back to Basics (first cd of hers that I have ever bought), and her song “The Right Man” makes it sound as if the lessons she learned in her childhood will not be repeated in her new home. She has handled her career very well, and I think she really pushes herself as an artist (can you tell I was blown away by Back to Basics?).
There is nothing more interesting than an artist who pushes themselves to new heights!
i really love christina and what shes stands for…shes my inspiration
Old news, about 10 years behind on this information.
I say bravo to Christina’s mom for getting herself and her daughters away from such a terrible excuse for a man. Extremely brave of her.
Fausto’s statements come across as CRAZY manipulative. “I never abused them in any way and they know that” is a phrase that I think has probably left the lips of every domestic abuser in the history of the world.
I’m not saying she is lying but she was 4 when her mother left, thats seems too young to remember much.