Jana Kramer Got Triggered Filming ‘Gaslit by My Husband’

Jana Kramer acquired emotional whereas trying again on her expertise in an abusive relationship.

“I really feel unhappy for the model of myself that I used to be, that I might settle for somebody to place their fingers on me,” Kramer, 40, completely instructed Us Weekly on Tuesday, June 4, whereas getting choked up. The singer added that she feels “unhappy” for survivors which can be “trapped” in emotions of disgrace.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a lot disgrace anymore [that I feel], I simply really feel unhappy,” she defined.

Kramer’s ex-husband Michael Gambino, whom she was married to for lower than one 12 months in 2004, was convicted on tried homicide expenses in 2005 after subjecting Kramer to extreme home abuse. He was sentenced to 6 years in jail and later died in 2012.

Years after escaping the harrowing abuse, Kramer is bringing consciousness to home violence by starring within the upcoming Lifetime film Gaslit by My Husband: The Morgan Metzer Story.

The movie, which premieres Sunday, June 9, on Lifetime, tells the true story of Morgan Metzer, who was overwhelmed and sexually assaulted by a masked intruder in 2021. Her ex-husband, Rodney Metzer, pretended to come back to her rescue after the assault, however he was later recognized because the assailant. Rodney pleaded responsible to expenses together with kidnapping and aggravated assault and was sentenced to 25 years in jail in 2021.

“When Lifetime reached out about this story and I learn it, I imply, it was chilling,” Kramer instructed Us, including that she spoke to Morgan earlier than portraying her on display.

“I used to be nervous to speak to her simply because I’m telling her story and I wished to be respectful of her story and inform her story the way it occurred,” she mentioned. “She was conversant in my home abuse background, [and] the place we acquired to ultimately was we each have been doing it as a result of we wished to make clear this matter and what’s occurring. And he or she was gracious to share her story, however everyone knows that it’s loads of girls’s tales that we’re telling. I like Morgan, she’s a really robust girl.”

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Though Kramer felt a robust need to provide a voice to survivors with the Lifetime movie, she admitted that taking pictures Gaslit by My Husband was triggering at occasions.

“It was exhausting,” she recalled. “I imply, we had a second on set the place we needed to reduce as a result of I had a whole panic assault as a result of [my costar] Austin [Nichols] was on high of me. I couldn’t breathe. And that simply triggered me proper again to my abuse scenario.”

The actress added that she saved in shut contact along with her therapist in the course of the filming course of because the position introduced again troublesome recollections.

“There [were] just a few occasions the place I used to be triggered waking up feeling my arms bruised once more,” she mentioned. “Austin didn’t imply to bruise me or harm me, however after we’re within the scene, I’m like, ‘Go for it.’ … However waking up, it’s like, ‘Wait, why do I’ve bruise marks on my arms?’ And it’s like, ‘No, no, no, no. That’s the previous. You’re taking part in this half.’ However I did should sort of remind myself the place I used to be at in actuality.”

Given the movie’s troublesome material, it helped that Nichols, 44, who performed Rodney, is a buddy of Kramer’s and a fellow One Tree Hill alum.

“There was nobody else I may have performed this position with, as a result of even that second having that panic assault on set and having to basically run exterior, realizing he was there, [I felt like], ‘OK, he’s a protected particular person for me,’” she mentioned, calling Nichols an “unimaginable buddy.”

After divorcing Gambino, Kramer was married to Johnathon Schaech from 2010 to 2011 and to Mike Caussin, with whom she shares daughter Jolie, 7, and son Jace, 4, from 2015 to 2021. She and fiancé Allan Russell, who confirmed their engagement in Might 2023, welcomed son Roman in November 2023.

Gaslit by My Husband: The Morgan Metzer Story premieres on Lifetime Sunday, June 9, at 8 p.m. ET.

In case you or somebody you already know are experiencing home violence, please name the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential assist.

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi