Note: Some readers may find the description of domestic abuse in this article upsetting.
Fans are crying over the horrific assault one man endured in a new real crime documentary that was just added to Netflix.
The abuser filed a lawsuit to try to stop the documentary from airing after it debuted on Channel 5 earlier this year.
Richard Spencer’s courageous experience is told in the television program My Wife, My Abuser.
For more than ten years, Spencer’s wife, Sheree Spencer, mistreated him.
Kate Rayfield, the sentencing judge, described it as “the worst incidence of controlling and coercive behavior [she had ever] seen” when she finally appeared in court and was given a four-year prison sentence.
Richard Spencer turned up 36 video clips, nine cellphone recordings, and forty-three photos of injuries when the police arrived.
A “nanny cam” was used to record many video recordings of the episodes, which helped document her abusive behavior.
She would frequently attack her husband, and one nanny cam video even showed her brandishing a knife in threat.
He sustained a 2 cm cut below his knee when she came at him with the knife.
In the documentary, the abused husband and father say: “Sheree’s abuse towards me evolved and escalated over time; she used repeated acts of physical assault, threats, verbal abuse, and humiliation to punish and exercise control over me.”
The abuse was concealed from friends, family, and the general public.
Sheree tricked me into thinking I was a complicit and responsible party to the assault.
“She remorselessly proclaimed that I deserved to be punished and that it was a justifiable consequence of me disappointing her in some way.”
The documentary on his journey, which was just added to Netflix and immediately shot to the top of the streamer’s rankings, has been an intense experience for viewers.
One tweeted: “My wife, my abuser is a ridiculously hard watch. The fact that she carried out all of this abuse IN FRONT OF THEIR KIDS too actually made my heart hurt. F**king awful”
Another said: “Watched My Wife, My Abuser on Channel 5 earlier this year and it still stays with me now.”
“Absolutely horrific abuse and to see how long she got in prison is disgusting. That poor man, so much courage to tell his story.”
Speaking to MailOnline regarding the documentary, Richard Spencer said: “Sheree tried to stop the documentary being broadcast in the crown court but failed.”
He went on to say after she was jailed: “I have become resigned to the fact that I will never fully recover from her abuse and that it will have a permanent damaging impact on mine and my family’s life.”
You may now watch My Wife, My Abuser on Netflix.
Please know that you are not alone if you are a victim of domestic abuse. You can speak with the national domestic abuse helpline Refuge in confidence by calling 0808 2000 247, which is open around-the-clock, or by using the live chat feature, which is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
