Lauren Luke is a self-taught makeup artist. She became popular when her Youtube beauty tutorials garnered hundreds of millions views for teaching ordinary women how to glam themselves up.
With a makeup line in Sephora and even a video game for Nintendo DS, Lauren has found a great deal of success. However, she kept a dark secret.
"I had a bad experience in the past with a previous boyfriend. He never physically hurt me but I did sometimes fear what would happen next if I said the wrong thing," she told Adweek. "He could be overprotective and embarrass me in front of my work colleagues or friends because of his aggressive behavior. Sometimes it was like living with a volcano which could erupt at any second — I felt I was walking on egg shells just to keep him from exploding and smashing something across the room."
Another blogger, Emma Murphy, shared her abuse story after protecting her boyfriend for years. Unfortunately, this is something all too common, but never any less tragic.
In the video you're about to watch Lauren behaves as though it is one of her normal tutorials. She appears on camera, greets the audience and begins the how-to.
Except, this one is different. She instructs the viewer to cover up her bruises left by a "jealous partner."
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, every 20 minutes a person is physically abused by their romantic partner. This equates to roughly more than 10 million men and women every year in the United States.
If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE).
Though the bruises in the video aren't real, the emotional scars from her previous relationship are. The video ends with one chilling message: "65% of women who suffer domestic violence keep it hidden. Don't cover it up."
SHARE this to help someone speak out against domestic violence.
