Todd English Strikes Back
Posted by: Ami Angelowicz
Filed in:
news
4:00PM, Friday October 16th 2009
Remember when celebrity chef Todd English left his fiancée, Erica Wang, standing at the altar last week, earning him the title of Worst Fiancé Ever? Well, Todd is finally defending his actions. He claims there was a very good reason that he called the wedding off … Erica hit him. In a tearful interview with People, Todd called his relationship with Erica “volatile and vicious,” and full of “physical and verbal abuse.” He says it reached rock bottom when she reportedly punched him in the eye last month. As much as I hate to doubt anyone who claims they’ve been a victim of domestic abuse, I just don’t know if I’m buying this. I mean, have you seen pics of Erica Wang? She’s hardly physically intimidating. Also, a source close to Todd suggests a more compelling reason for the breakup: “He had other girlfriends.” But Todd is prepared to put his money where his mouth is—he has filed assault charges with the NYPD over the incident. Wang responded by marching down to see the po-po in person, however her attorney said in a statement, “My client will continue to cooperate, has done nothing wrong and welcomes the opportunity for the District Attorney to reach that conclusion and clear her name.” So what do you think—real or just trying to save his reputation? [People]
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bethlynn00
wrote on October 16 2009 @ 03:19 pm: [report]
I take great offense to your questioning his claims of physical abuse! That is rule number one with abuse victims: you NEVER deny the abuse! If this had been the other way around, there would be serious trouble! Often when the man is the victim we want to deny it, but many men are in violent relationships with female partners and they can’t get help or are afraid to get help because of insensitive, mis-guided statements like this! Her size does not matter, abuse is more about power and control then physical strength, so your statements are very disturbing and upsetting, because we don’t know the situation. Okay she was jilted and women are suppose to sympathize with her, but that does not mean that it’s okay to deny his side of the story, that’s wrong and dangerous to others who are seriously in jeopardy. I know that this is suppose to be a female centered site, but you can’t deny that women can be abusers as well, it’s a very real problem that often is not brought to light because we have a society based on the idea of the “macho man” and women can’t harm men, but that’s just not true, but stories like this help to keep those ideals alive. The fact that he has filed charges against her, should show that this claims have some relevance, so why deny them right away? It’s unfortunate that you think that way.
writergirl
wrote on October 16 2009 @ 03:36 pm: [report]
A woman I know is currently in jail for spousal abuse. He’s about 6 feet, pretty well built. She’s about 5’5”, 5’6” and has a nice build.
Erin G
wrote on October 16 2009 @ 05:16 pm: [report]
I second bethlynn. I am really disappointed in this article and its author. This site is supposed to be better than to play to a double standard.
As Pretty Does
wrote on October 16 2009 @ 05:28 pm: [report]
I agree with the other commenters who said its unfair to impose a double standard with this issue. Not to come off as racist (and I feel I can kind of get away with this since I am Asian, though not East Asian), but Asian women can be pretty controlling. And mean. So honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Typewriter
wrote on October 16 2009 @ 07:07 pm: [report]
Did she by any chance punch him in the eye because he has other girlfriends?
I’m 5’2 and 110 lbs., but I definitely thought about throwing my fist at my 5’10 ex’s face when I found out he’d been cheating.
moonblossom
wrote on October 16 2009 @ 09:26 pm: [report]
I know nothing about his dude or his ex-fiance. However, I did know a guy in college who was an abused spouse. He was a great big, muscle-y dude who dated a cute, skinny little miss thing. They got married right out of college and shortly thereafter they were divorced. Turns out she would beat the snot out of him. He was always scared to do anything because even if all he did was push her away he was strong enough to send her into a wall or something. She would jump on him and punch him in the face…horrible stuff. So, he took the abuse until he couldn’t anymore and then they broke up. I found out about it after the fact and I felt really sorry for him. It definitely wasn’t anything I expected to hear from him.
Point being…men can be victims too.
slip
wrote on October 17 2009 @ 09:40 am: [report]
@Typewriter, there is no excuse for domestic violence. Hitting someone is battery; you should do time for it. And there is a special circle of Hell reserved for people who hit their intimate partners.
And for those of you who discount smaller people’s capacity for violence, remember this: they have something to prove that bigger people don’t. Big people put you in the hospital. Small people put you in the morgue. Ask any cop.
Slip
bogart4017
wrote on October 17 2009 @ 10:57 am: [report]
I know a lot of abused men and refused to be one of them. You need to let a woman-or man-know that if they touch you, they draw back a nub and you both go to jail and that you’re willing to prove it they will leave you alone.
Laurel
wrote on October 17 2009 @ 12:54 pm: [report]
@Ami—
WTF? Are you serious? Yes, physical size can be used to intimidate, but that isn’t always the case. Speculating that because the abuser is small in stature and/or a woman hurts ALL victims of domestic abuse.
Kim Roman Corle
wrote on October 18 2009 @ 12:31 pm: [report]
The bottom line is that physical violence is never acceptable and it’s certainly not limited to big, bulky men.
Women AND men abuse and physical starts with verbal. We need more education on this and as a reminder there is nothing wrong with anger but there is everything wrong with anyone putting it on someone else.
I’d say the blessing here is that they aren’t together anymore. Hopefully that will stick.
Typewriter
wrote on October 18 2009 @ 09:35 pm: [report]
@slip I’m not saying Erica Wang wasn’t wrong, I just meant that I can understand why she would do it in spite of her small stature.