Heavy/ABC Jana Kramer talks about new role.
Season 23 “Dancing With the Stars” alum Jana Kramer stars in the Lifetime movie “Gaslit by My Husband.” The film comes 19 years after Kramer’s ex-husband was convicted on attempted murder charges, according to E! News.
Kramer married Michael Gambino in 2004. However, he was physically abusive to the point where he almost killed her, and they split the same year. Kramer detailed some of this abuse in her book, “The Next Chapter: Making Peace with Hard Memories, Finding Hope All Around Me, and Clearing Space for Good Things to Come.” Gambino served six years behind bars and died by suicide in 2012, two years after his release.
Kramer’s new role has her feeling all kinds of emotions.
“I feel sad for the version of myself that I was, that I would accept someone to put their hands on me,” Kramer told Us Weekly.
The film aired on June 9.
Jana Kramer Felt Moved by Morgan Metzer’s Experience
Kramer’s past experience with physical abuse connected her to the story of Morgan Metzer, who was beaten and sexually assaulted by her husband.
“When Lifetime reached out about this story and I read it, I mean, it was chilling,” Kramer told Us Weekly. Kramer admitted that portraying Metzer wasn’t easy.
“I mean, we had a moment on set where we had to cut because I had a complete panic attack because [my costar] Austin [Nichols] was on top of me. I couldn’t breathe. And that just triggered me right back to my abuse situation,” she stated.
On the June 3 episode of her “Whine Down” podcast, Kramer dove a bit deeper.
“It took me right back to being strangled. I mean, I screamed so loud that they had to, they called cut because I just, I couldn’t breathe. And I, I mean, ripped the thing, you know, they off my head and, and I just, I couldn’t, I just lost it and I had to go outside,” she continued, adding, “then we had to take five because I just, my whole body was just like back in it. And it was so freaking scary.”
She told Us Weekly that she kept in close contact with her therapist while working on set.
Jana Kramer Had a Rocky Relationship With Mike Caussin
Following her divorce from Gambino, Kramer married Johnathon Schaech, but the two split after a year. In 2015, she married Mike Caussin, and they had two children together in the years that followed.
Caussin cheated on Kramer numerous times throughout their relationship. In an episode of “Red Table Talk,” Kramer revealed that Caussin had cheated on her with “more” than 13 women.
After years of a different type of abuse, Kramer decided to leave Caussin. Following their 2021 divorce, the two are much better friends and are able to amicably raise their two kids together.
“He and I have a great relationship, you know, everything is good,” Kramer said on the June 5, 2023, episode of her “Whine Down” podcast. “When stuff does come up, we’re like, ‘Hey, can we kind of talk this out?’ We still have our moments where we get frustrated but we’re able to communicate in such better way now, so that’s been nice. We’ve had more respect out of our marriage than in our marriage,” she added.
Flash forward to 2024 and Kramer is engaged to Allan Russell. They welcomed a son in November 2023.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
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