Sheis…: Why did you feel the need to speak out about the A&E Intervention special & how you’ve been portrayed in the media since that special aired?

Claudette Ortiz: Initially I wasn’t going to say anything… & I think that stemmed from fear because of the relationship I had with Robbie… it was an abusive one. He portrayed it like it was a “lovely romance” & it wasn’t. I just want to move on & put things behind me. Other people may be in the same position I was in… & if you don’t eventually stand up for yourself it can carry on for the next 12 years… like in my case. It was time to tell the truth… the truth that he so conveniently left out in the intervention.

Sheis…: How did you & Robbie meet?

Claudette Ortiz: I met Robbie before the group (City High)… We started out as friends… we were both singers & knew some of the same people… My older sister and him were in the same grade so she knew him too… they were 2 grades above me… when we first started dating she said to me “are you sure you want to date him?” I asked her what she meant by that & she told me Robbie had a reputation of getting really drunk (since) back then & told me a story about him drinking excessively to the point where he’d passed out. I knew he drank but I never saw that side of it. He was my first boyfriend, we were young I was 16 & he was 18… we were nice teenagers. Everything seemed fine in the beginning but over time it became like a nightmare.

Sheis…: A nightmare? How so?

Claudette Ortiz: At first it started with me finding out about other girls… I stayed through that… I’m sure every woman can relate to believing a man lying to you about cheating, even when all the signs were right in my face… & that caused problems but it was the drunken fits that really scared me & made want to end our relationship…

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