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redqueen

(115,103 posts)
Tue May 14, 2013, 02:43 PM May 2013

Maya Angelou Domestic Abuse: Poet Tells Oprah That Ex-Boyfriend Beat Her And Held Her Captive

Dr. Maya Angelou is many things: a poet, an actress, a teacher, a producer, a director, a mother, a daughter and a literary icon. But she is also a survivor of domestic abuse, she revealed in an interview with Oprah.

In this clip from "Super Soul Sunday," Dr. Angelou shares the shocking story of her abuse at the hands of an ex-boyfriend, not only revealing an incident in which he beat her, but also alleging that he held her captive for several days before Dr. Angelou's determined and heroic mother, Vivian Baxter, came to her rescue. This story, which Dr. Angelou also shares in her latest book, "Mom & Me & Mom," shows just how courageous, passionate and powerful Vivian was, prompting Oprah to call it "the greatest story of all the stories."

Dr. Angelou says that a "loving" and "wonderful" man she had been dating picked her up after work one day and drove her to a romantic spot in San Francisco. "I thought we were at a romantic place out by the bay," Dr. Angelou says. "And he hit me with his fists -- and he had been a prize fighter. He hit me, he beat me. Sometimes I'd go unconscious."

The next thing she knew, Dr. Angelou had been driven to a restaurant, where the man showed off to other men what he had done. "He said, 'This is what you do to a b- who's cheating on you,'" Dr. Angelou recalls. What the man may not have realized was that the restaurant owner was a friend of Dr. Angelou's mother Vivian. The owner called Vivian to tell her what had happened to her daughter.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/13/maya-angelou-domestic-abuse_n_3255391.html
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Maya Angelou Domestic Abuse: Poet Tells Oprah That Ex-Boyfriend Beat Her And Held Her Captive (Original Post) redqueen May 2013 OP
Even the most sensational of women can be victimized this way Doctor_J May 2013 #1
Her Mother ismnotwasm May 2013 #2

ismnotwasm

(41,967 posts)
2. Her Mother
Wed May 15, 2013, 01:19 PM
May 2013

Was badass. Remember in "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" what happened to Maya's rapist?


This is incredibly sickening. That woman had been through so much, and still there's some asshole that beats her. Did she confide in him, I wonder? Trust him? Love him? I need to read that book. Reading this makes my stomach clench in rage for her.

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