Huge parties, lavish dresses and tight-knit families have all been featured on TLC's "My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding," but in addition to the fun, the show also takes a look at more serious topics this week -- gender roles, respect and domestic violence.
In an exclusive video the network shared with TODAY.com, 22-year-old gypsy Mellie, of West Virginia, confesses to the cameras that she went through hell with her first husband: "If I didn't bow down to everything he said, I would get beat up on." She also admits that sometimes, she hates the Romani lifestyle because of what she's been through. Watch the emotional clip:
Mellie, who met her first husband, Danny, when she was just shy of 17, told TODAY.com that the relationship was perfect when it started out. Three months after meeting, they ran away to get married, but things went bad at the six-month mark. After an argument one day, Mellie said that Danny -- who had changed the locks on their trailer home so they couldn't be unlocked from the inside -- locked her in the house and left. She had to kick out a window to escape.
"He was there within two minutes because he was just right at the gas station across the street," Mellie told TODAY.com. "I climbed up in the tree because I knew I was dead. I knew if he got his hands on me that that would be the end of me." But because she had cut her foot badly when kicking out the window, she wasn't able to stay up in the tree. When she came down, "he started beating the hell out of me, like, pounding my head on the pine tree."
After suffering even more abuse but returning each time -- "My family talked me into going back to him ... that was the gypsy tradition; you have to stick it out," Mellie said -- she finally had enough and took off in the middle of the night. "I just disappeared," she said. "I didn't let anybody know where I was going. I disappeared for like, two years."
But she said that wasn't the end of the abuse she suffered. When she was 19, she married her second husband, who was 17 at the time. "Gypsies get married at a young age," Mellie explained.
When she found out she was pregnant, her husband told her to get an abortion, and she refused. "I said no, I'm not going to do that," Mellie told TODAY.com. "So we had an argument and I woke up to him beating me. And then two weeks later, I had a miscarriage." She was four months pregnant.
Mellie said that afterward, she went to stay with her brother, who threatened to beat her new husband if he showed up. "I never looked back," she admitted.
Though she was abused, Mellie said she never pressed charges. "Gypsies don't believe in that."
Mellie, who's now dating an Italian man, said she's learned her lesson. "I will never go with another gypsy (guy)," she said. "A non-gypsy man I would marry and have a life with." But that's not all. "I don't care how many hoops I have to jump through ... lay one hand on me and I'm gone."
Learn more about Mellie and her family on the new episode of "My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding," airing Sunday at 10 p.m. on TLC.
What do you think of Mellie's story? Will you watch the show to learn more about her? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.
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