It seems like every day since the Harvey Weinstein story broke, we’ve had another famous woman telling her story of being raped, harassed or abused over the course of their career. The latest woman to come forward is Alice Glass, who was the lead singer in Crystal Castles, a Canadian electronica band who are apparently very good if you like that sort of music, which I do not. I listened to some of their music while preparing this article and it kind of sounds like someone yelling over a recording of Pac-Man eating Ms. Pac-Man’s ass.
Glass made a statement on her website.
I met “Ethan Kath” (Claudio Palmieri) when I was in the 10th grade. The first time he took advantage of me was when I was around 15. He was 10 years older than me. I came to in the back of his car extremely intoxicated (from drinks he had given me that night). We didn’t talk for months after that. He went to great lengths to find me again, stalking me and driving past my high school looking for me.
He tracked me down and showed up places I was hanging out and we eventually reconnected. I was very young and naive and in a compromised position in my life. I perceived him as a local rock star because I had seen his band, Kill Cheerleader, on TV. A lot of my friends from the punk scene had also been taken advantage of by much older men, so to me, it was a situation that had been normalized.
Claudio was very manipulative towards me. He figured out my insecurities and exploited them: he used the things he learned about me against me. Over a period of many months, he gave me drugs and alcohol and had sex with me in an abandoned room at an apartment he managed. It wasn’t always consensual and he remained sober whenever we were together.
That’s scumbag 101 right there. Page 1 in the “How to Be a Creep” handbook is getting teenagers drunk and taking advantage of them.
Soon after, we were invited to tour the UK. I was overwhelmed by how quickly things were happening for us, and Claudio convinced me to drop out of high school only 2 credits away from graduation. As we started to gain attention, he began abusively and systematically targeting my insecurities and controlling my behavior: my eating habits, who I could talk to, where I could go, what I could say in public, what I was allowed to wear. He kept me from doing interviews or photoshoots unless he was in control of the situation. Our fame grew in Crystal Castles but he didn’t feel he was getting the recognition he thought he deserved.
He became physically abusive. He held me over a staircase and threatened to throw me down it. He picked me up over his shoulders and threw me onto concrete. He took pictures of my bruises and posted them online. I tried to leave, and he swore that it would never happen again, that he would never physically abuse me again. More severe psychological and emotional abuse took its place.
Can you imagine finding out this is how John Lennon treated Paul McCartney? I’ll bet you literally cannot. Being in an abusive relationship is difficult enough, but imagine if your abusive partner started a band and made you world-famous terrible musicians as a way to control you. This story is reaching new heights of fucked up.
Hopefully, now that Glass has moved on from him and the band, she can start to heal and get herself on a good path going forward.