For the first time since the domestic violence incident between her and her husband broke, Janay Rice provided her own in-depth account of the incident and the resulting scandal. Shortly after Ray Rice was reinstated by the NFL on Friday, ESPN released a one-on-one interview with Janay, in which she describes her husband as a loving partner who let alcohol and anger lead to a regrettable mistake -- a mistake that she still believes herself to be at least in part responsible.
Janay Rice shares her side of the story
Ray Rice’s wife sat down with ESPN to detail the domestic abuse scandal from her own perspective.
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“I still find it hard to accept being called a ‘victim.’ I know there are so many different opinions out there about me -- that I’m weak, that I’m making excuses and covering up abuse -- and that some people question my motives for staying with Ray.”
In the interview, which was conducted by Jemele Hill, Janay details the events leading up to the infamous elevator assault in Atlantic City, stating that she and her then-fiance became drunk and annoyed with one another while partying with two other couples at a casino. Her memory of the incident itself is “foggy” -- she remembers going into the elevator and then coming to in the casino lobby surrounded by police.
“At first, I was very angry, and I didn’t know what to say,” claimed Janay, who said she questioned her husband after the pair were arrested. “This came out of nowhere. Nothing like this had ever happened before. I knew it wasn’t him.
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“I know some people disagreed with me publicly apologizing,” Janay said of the May 23 press conference, the couple’s first public comments since the incident. “I’m not saying that what Ray did wasn’t wrong. He and I both know it was wrong. It’s been made clear to him that it was wrong. But at the same time, who am I to put my hands on somebody? I had already apologized to Ray, and I felt that I should take responsibility for what I did. Even though this followed the Ravens’ suggested script, I owned my words.”
Janay also spoke about the Ravens' release of Ray, which she said caught her off guard.
“I was extremely surprised and angry that the Ravens released him, because they know him. They were our family, but I felt like the Ravens completely disregarded the past six years with him. Anytime the Ravens needed someone for a community event, Ray was their man. It seemed like a knee-jerk reaction for publicity reasons.”
Her description of Roger Goodell paints a flattering picture of a commissioner concerned with the couple’s well-being during a June meeting.
“Mr. Goodell seemed to be a really reasonable and caring guy and wanted to make sure other people would learn from our mistake. He wanted to confirm that alcohol was a factor. He actually seemed to care about the facts and wanted to make sure that we would help other people learn from this experience.”
However, Janay’s assertion that her husband came clean to Goodell during that meeting contradicts the commissioner’s longstanding stance that Ray was not truthful about the incident, the foundation for the league’s decision to increase the initial two-game suspension.
“Ray told the commissioner, and his colleagues, everything that happened. There was no reason to lie because we knew that there was a video and we assumed the NFL knew what was in it, even though we didn’t know whether or not they saw it.”
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