In a world where the truth is often hidden out of fear, Alice Glass came forward and spoke up about her experiences with abusive, toxic relationships, which has influenced her to leave Crystal Castles for good. On October 24, Glass posted on her website details about abuse she experienced from former bandmate Claudio Palmieri, also know as “Ethan Kath.” While Glass has been more vague about the details in the past, mainly “out of fear,” she states, “The momentum that’s been created recently by the many courageous women who have opened up about their own stories has inspired me to finally be more direct, at whatever cost.”

In her statement Glass asserts that Kath sexually, physically, and psychologically abused her over the course of the many years they spent together. 

Glass’ music career began in high school soon after she met Kath. “I met ‘Ethan Kath’ (Claudio Palmieri) when I was in 10th grade. The first time he took advantage of me was when I was around 15,” Glass wrote in her statement “I perceived him as a local rock star because I had seen his band, Kill Cheerleader, on TV. A lot of my friends from the punk scene had also been taken advantage of by much older men, so to me, it was a situation that had been normalized.”

After they formed the band, Glass’ said the abuse continued. Glass called it a “toxic environment that I often felt that I had to go along with.” As Crystal Castles grew in fame, Kath “began abusively and systematically targeting my [Glass] insecurities and controlling my behavior: my eating habits, who I could talk to, where I could go, what I could say in public, and what I was allowed to wear.”

Glass’ relationship with Kath even turned violent as she recalls,“He held me over a staircase and threatened to throw me down it.” Clearly this wasn’t a good relationship, which can be further identified by Kath’s tweet discrediting her importance to the band. Kath has also sued his former bandmate for defamation and what he describes as “extortion, false claims, and accusations put forth after the band attained new success without her.”

With so many other women and men bravely coming forward with their experiences, Glass was left with an ultimatum: her music career with Crystal Castles or her well-being. Whether or not the Glass’ accusations are true is still to be determined, but hopefully her message will still inspire people to speak up about their struggles, to get help when depressed or being abused, and be more mindful that everyone around them is struggling too.

Glass ended her personal statement with “I am still recovering.” A statement that speaks to life in general and just how influential our past experiences actually are. Depression, abuse and mental illness aren’t something people just forget about or “get over,” which is why as humans we should look out for each other and not blindly allow these things to go unnoticed.