As more women come forward about their experiences with sexual misconduct, former the former Crystal Castles frontwoman releases a statement about her own.

When Alice Glass left Crystal Castles in 2014, she cited her reason as creative differences and said that the being in the band compromised her “sincerity, honesty and empathy for others”. In a new statement, she details lengthy claims of stalking, physical abuse and sexual misconduct, among other things, that caused her to leave the band:

“I’ve been very guarded about the information I’ve given and I haven’t publicly named names—because I’ve been afraid. I’ve been threatened and harassed and as a result, out of fear, I’ve been silenced, she writes. “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.”

Glass says that she met her former Crystal Castles bandmate Ethan Kath, who she refers to by his given name Claudio Palmieri, when she was in 10th grade. (He is ten years her senior.) She writes: “I was very young and naive and in a compromised position in my life. 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.”

She describes instances of physical and psychological abuse: “He held me over a staircase and threatened to throw me down it. He picked me up over his shoulders and threw me onto concrete.”; “I wasn’t allowed to have my own phone or my own credit card, he decided who my friends were, read through my private emails, restricted my access to social media, regulated everything I ate.”; ” He told me that my feminism made me a target for rapists and only he could protect me. He forced me to have sex with him or, he said, I wouldn’t be allowed to be in the band anymore.”

She concludes: “Leaving Crystal Castles was the single most difficult decision I’ve ever made—that band was everything to me. My music, my performances and my fans were all I had in the world. I gave that up and started over not because I wanted to but because I had to. As difficult as it was, I knew that leaving was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It has taken me years to recover from enduring almost a decade of abuse, manipulation and psychological control. I am still recovering.”

Read her full statement here.

Update: Ethan Kath has issued a statement to Pitchfork via his attorney refuting Alice Glass’s claims.

“I am outraged and hurt by the recent statements made by Alice about me and our prior relationship. Her story is pure fiction and I am consulting my lawyers as to my legal options. Fortunately, there are many witnesses who can and will confirm that I was never abusive to Alice.”

Listen to Glass’s self-titled solo EP below.

Read next: Crystal Castles should not headline Tumblr’s feminism-centric party at SXSW 2016

Latest

Latest



		
	
Share Tweet