Christina Applegate recently told the sad story about how she was in an abusive relationship for three years as a young woman. When she had success in her early career as the ditsy blond Kelly Bundy on Married with Children, she was facing unbearable personal pain at home. She lived in fear of her first boyfriend, who would beat her in ways that left her personally shattered, but wouldn’t leave marks for others to see. She said she was “brainwashed” and desperate for help:

“I met what I thought was the most dynamic and sexy and wonderful, charming man that I’ve ever met in my entire life,” Christina told members of the Women’s Progress Alliance, a group headed by Nicole Simpson’s sister Denise brown.

“And from that moment on, for three years, I lived in fear for my life from the time that I woke up to the time I went to sleep.

“He had such a way of beating me that it wouldn’t leave any marks, because he knew everyone would know.”

Christina also told the women’s domestic violence group that she would hurt herself in a desperate cry for help, so people would notice her injuries. But then she wouldn’t have the courage to come forward with the truth.

“He basically brainwashed me,” she explained. “I almost lost my life.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, December 3, 2007]

When celebrities speak out about their personal problems, they literally help tens of thousands of people who are faced with similar difficult circumstances. Good for Applegate for getting out of that terrible situation and not continuing the cycle of abuse in her next relationship, and it’s very brave of her to talk about it. Applegate was later married to actor Johnathon Schaech, but they were separated in 2005 after about four years, and divorced two years later. They remain friends, with a recent story that they were making out at a club after they met there unexpectedly.

If you’re trapped in an abusive relationship, tell someone and get help. I realize it’s not that simple when you have kids and/or a lack of resources, but you owe it yourself and your kids to figure out a way to get out. Here are the signs of an abusive relationship.

Vegetarian Christina Applegate is the spokesperson in a sexy PETA campaign against fur titled “Fur: Get Me Not.” In an interview on the PETA website about her new ad she explains when she became a vegetarian, saying that she saw blood on a plate when she was eating on the Married with Children set. She said “I looked down and there was blood on my plate, and it was that realization, that I can’t eat something that has been alive, I just can’t do it. So I stopped, and that was it. That was the last time.” Maybe that same kind of realization helped her get out of that relationship around the same time. If you are in an abusive relationship, you can do it too.

Christina Applegate is shown on 11/18/07 at the American Music Awards, thanks to PRPhotos.