Alagna beat me says Angela Gheorghiu

“He was actually violent - and in front of my family, and his family also. I lived through that. It’s the most black page of my life. I said for years that I cannot believe it, it will be fine – you say that all the time. But it’s like a malady. Even if you are the most angry person, to stand and give a clap [sic] on your wife, it’s impossible – and to do this in front of your father and your brother and they say not a word? This is my life.”

Angela Gheorghiu, interviewed by Jessica Duchen in the Independent, accuses ex-husband Roberto Alagna of domestic violence.

Comments

[manou]

Are the Rondine tickets selling that badly?

[Faye]

Horrible, if it's true. But without hearing Roberto's side of the story then it wouldn't be fair to make assumptions or speculate.....

I can't help but wonder about the timing of this bombshell tho. Domestic violence is such a serious issue so perhaps an interview designed to generate publicity and sell tickets for your next show is not the most appropriate place for such a revelation?

[Faye]

PS: Did she really say he gave her the clap or was it a bad translation?

[SJT]

Frankly, her getting the clap from her sometime spouse is the least of her problems...

Besides, I don't see him landing a few without her removing some of his teeth in retaliation, do you? A supine victim, she is not.

Isn't lurve wonderful?

[Sheila]

Oh, dear. If true, how could he? If not true, how could she?

[Renata P.]

I do not think she's lying.

Had she been jealous for the Alessandra Kurtzac affair, she would have said something compromising impulsively, in November last year, when AK and Roberto began flirting as they co-starred ROH's L'elisir d'amore.
Had she wanted some legal advantage in divorce, she would have said something in January when they filed for divorce (and I don't think she needs his money).

My guess is that she has resented for a while that she carried the burden of a bad public reputation alone - everybody assuming that her many cancellations were due to her lack of character - when in fact her private conflicts with Roberto might have been the main reason.

For example, her becoming persona non grata at the MET in 2010 clearly affected her career prospects...so probably she resents that Roberto's career is flourishing while she's been shoved aside there (and I recall that some of the cancellations - for Carmen and for Romeo and Juliet - had to do with Alagna).

[Siggy]

Just sad really. No one comes out of this looking particularly good - whether it's true or not.

And whether it's true or not the timing of this revelation simply isn't classy - nor is the linking of her many absences to alleged wifebeating.

And if she is trying to boost ticket sales then frankly it's had the opposite affect on me - I can do without the off-stage angst.

[Faye]

At the end of the Independent article Roberto's sister and agent refuses to comment and dismisses the claim as "idiocy".

Maybe we should borrow Hagen's spear and get them both to swear on it that they're telling the truth?

[JDabrowski]

I do not make the claim that women always tell the truth in every accusation of domestic violence, but some of the snide comments about Gheorghiu here are really disappointing. Even disgusting, frankly. Most of the time, the woman in these situations IS telling the truth.

For these accusations to be met with this kind of derision does not serve victims well. For people to grouse about the timing is especially repulsive. Victims have lots of reasons why they don't come forward immediately, frequent feelings of shame that ought to be felt by the perpetrators instead, etc. The fact that there are legions of people -- mostly, but sadly not exclusively, men -- who will second-guess every statement of victims and give perpetrators the benefit of the doubt, is the most important reason why victims most often do not come forward at all.

[sub_opera]

I guess we all hope La Draculette is not another victim of domestic violence, although I agree with SJT's comments above.

However, the woman/opera singer always appear to be so fake, insincere, petulant and up-herself that every single time I have seen her I felt like slapping her. Maybe rhetorically only, but slapping her nevertheless.

I now need to sell my La rondine ticket. I can't bear the thought of seeing her on stage now demanding our collective pity.

[Zoya]

Yes, it's very badly if it was, but, exuse me dear friends, i am feeling some satisfaction for RA. From many Gheorghiu's words in the press it's evidently that she considered always that RA and his family are the second sort people. Just therefore RA was uncertain with AG as rule and he began to sing many better without AG. She suppressed him, i think that she is from the vampires at all. I would like still to remember her shameful performance on the Bolshoi-gala, in that cases we say: to kill - it's a little.
And more: I am old voman, I was married twice, my first husband was very talented and very expressive man, i divorced him, but disgraced him never: I, our daughter, grandgaughter were in good relations with him and his family always. My family life was very difficult but I loved and respected my husbands and they took up their hands on me NEVER, but if it could be I gone away at once and silent.

[jsmith@e3property.com]

ummm...where were her family during this bitch-slap? egging him on or jumping to her defence?

[Zoya]

Dear Faye!
No-no! It's inadmissibly. RA does very rightly - says nothing about their relations. The audience loved the couple always and the audience must be respected by the couple. SJT is right also - the family problems are the private problems for the singer, the one has not the right to load the audiences with the personal life.
Unfortunately AG does'nt understand that. It seems to me that it is because she loves and respects NOBODY except oneself. It seems to me even that she has a sick psyche because of her extraordinarity: she is the princess and one may all.

[Nikolaus Vogel]

Hehe - you cynic, Manou!

[Emil Archambault]

At the same time, IF (and it's still an IF) Alagna beat her, it goes beyond the simple "private" matter and becomes a subject of public interest...

[JDabrowski]

Domestic violence is not merely "personal." It is a crime. Gheorghiu hasn't brought charges against Alagna, that is true, but that is true of millions of domestic violence victims, and it doesn't diminish the responsibility of society to combat domestic violence.

It is possible that Gheorghiu is not telling the truth. (I think she is telling the truth, but I acknowledge the possibility that she isn't.) But the fact that so many people in society automatically assume the woman is lying and take the man's side is the main reason why victims of violence against women do not come forward with their allegations when they actually occur.

[Siggy]

It was eminently predictable that their divorce would be of the messy variety - much like their marriage it appears.

Now, will Alagna respond with dignified silence - or a defamation lawsuit? Personally I'm hoping for silence but I'd be surprised if we've heard the last of this....

[Zoya]

I do'nt approve of a domestic violence of course but nevertheless just a woman must behave oneself so not to be a victim. The crime is the special case. But i do'nt think that A-G's problem is just that case.
Is Gheorghiu the victim? Most probably it's on the contrary. And it's not by casual that she is called Draculetta.
I see Alagna's fault here so that he adored her too much, it's very dangerously always.

[Steve]

I believe in innocent until proven guilty, especially when the allegations are so serious. Since there is no evidence - as things stand - I have to regard him as innocent. It's not for me a question of automatically believing the man over the woman, but simply that there is no evidence to the contrary and I have no rational reason to take one person's word against the other.

[Sheila]

This problem of blaming the victim comes up over and over. We shouldn't do it.

On the other hand, she shouldn't necessarily try him in the court of public opinion, where it is only she-said/he-said and the public chooses to believe based on whether they LIKE the accuser/victim/accused/abuser or not. She could lose the PR battle simply because her image is more grandiose diva than his nice-guy routine.

I feel for anyone who believes that a spouse/partner physically abused them in front of the spouse's relatives and no one rose to the defense. A light tap? A broken jaw? What's the difference if the result was humiliation and pain on being treated that way in front of others? Or treated that way at all?

I understand that a prior generation believes it is better to say nothing. I do NOT agree. It is better to speak up, even if you are not at first believed. By doing so, you pave the way for others to speak up, and finally, the collective voice will be believed. But you have to pick your moment well. I do think this lady needs the services of a spin doctor. And not whoever has been advising Paula Deen!

[JDabrowski]

In principle I agree with "innocent until proven guilty," and Alagna is entitled to that in a court of law. But much of the reaction to this has gone well beyond observing that principle. There are people who are ridiculing Gheorghiu's accusations in the most disgusting manner: for instance, claiming (in a newspaper column, not just in a blog comment) that she's saying this just to get attention.

I feel like I'm belaboring this, since this is the third time I've commented in this thread, but it bears repeating: This sort of reflexive misogyny is why women who are victimized by violence do not come forward. That, and the intimidation and fear when a woman is actually in such an abusive relationship -- and when she is finally able to come forward after the abusive relationship is over, she's subjected to this nonsense. People should really think about the effect such comments have on victims before making such comments.

[Steve]

The problem is that by choosing to make these serious allegations in a newspaper interview rather than to the police she is inviting speculation as to her motive. And I think it's legitimate speculation. It is not usual for victims of crime first to go to the papers, even if some time after the event. If you choose to go to trial in the court of public opinion then the public will have their say, and some of what they say will be unpalatable, uncharitable, or even downright nasty.

[JDabrowski]

But most victims do not report what happened to them while they are in the abusive relationship. And when they finally get out of the relationship, they often do not report things to the police then, either, because they want to have done with it altogether -- and because they know the kind of reaction a woman coming forward typically gets.

A woman who escapes from an abusive relationship may later tell her friends. Gheorghiu just happens to be the rare kind of person who gets interviewed by the media. If anything, I think she deserves praise for coming forward, because she demonstrates that a famous woman can be a victim, too -- indeed, that someone who has a reputation for being strong-willed can also be subject to the kind of intimidation that millions of ordinary women experience.

So I think that criticizing Gheorghiu for her timing is not appropriate. But what concerns me is not so much whether this happened to Gheorghiu -- though I suspect that it almost certainly did -- but other people's reaction to it. If you believe in "innocent until proven guilty," and don't feel you should comment because there's no way you can know the facts of the case, then that's fine: stay silent. But there are a lot of people who are ridiculing her, and by extension contributing to an atmosphere that intimidates all victims of violence against women, be that domestic abuse, sexual assault, etc.

That article in the Telegraph was especially presumptuous and awful, in my opinion.

[Zoya]

Ah Sheila, "grandiose diva" is the effective glamour diva only. But she is the opera singer at first and here she has many problems, particularly in the lower register where she must work very much. But for what if she is so "grandiose diva"? See her repertuar for last years!
Whereas "routine nice-guy" is called for all leading roles because at first he is very talented singer and actor. Yes, his appearance is not so effective and his voice has the problems already but he has thankful acknowledgments from the theaters both for the own Work and for the collective Work on the stage.
It's possible i am mistaken but my heart and intuition say me that in this couple just RA is the suffering side; i am suffering also but for him only.

[Theo]

It was awful indeed, as it starts with "THE WORLD'S MOST CELEBRATED FEMALE OPERA SINGER".

Please!

[jaeger@bostic.com]

I have to admit my initial reaction was to be slightly flippant due to the "DIVA" status of AG and the fact that this claim does seem to be the latest chapter in what is undeniably a public / private life, if you know what I mean.

However, in the final analysis, the public and the private lives of individuals need to be separated in the minds of those who only know their "public" persona - i.e. the general public. Yes, it is odd that she chose to air this in the public domain. However, she is by no means the first public figure to talk to journalists about the heart wrenching issues of their private lives that are designed to have maximum effect - Diana springs to mind! And these allegations proved to be nothing less than true.

The fact the AG disclosed this "news" in the public domain does not mean that it is untrue. Her life is very public as she is a public figure and her story is therefore to an extent, public interest. When you have lived life in the public eye, this can taint your attitude to keeping your life private and whereas to the rest of us, airing this news in the media may be abhorrent and lead us to question the motives, to those who are in the public arena, this boundary becomes less clear. She is not to be instantly condemned for publicising what is fundamentally still a very common and distressing experience.

I do think it was provocative and agree that it is probably as a result of having to bury the distress of it over time but again, without the involvement of a judicial process, it is hard to know - certainly, it will be tricky now to see either of the protagonists of this drama in the same way again, even though what we should all probably do is ignore it as far as possible until further evidence in whatever form is forthcoming.

True or not, whatever is going on here is not pleasant for either party nor the result of anyone having a "laugh" and any talk of deliberate timing really poor. Our sympathies should go out to both parties at this point in acknowledgement of their distress - and let's face it, all of us have troubles and drama in life and none of us are beyond reproach. It is just that in this case, this couples' experiences ARE public and whilst AG particularly encourages this, it is not entirely of their own making.

[Lola]

she just lost Cezar Ouatu he broke her heart she just wonna forget and angry for happy ex Roberto

[Steve]

You think she deserves praise in coming forward because you think 'she almost certainly' was subject to abuse. On the other hand, if she wasn't, then what she has come forward and said is a vile slander. Moreover, it seems to me that in deciding, on the basis of no hard evidence whatsoever, that she is probably telling the truth you are just as guilty of jumping to a conclusion as the misogynists you decry earlier on (Even if most women who allege abuse are telling the truth - something that seems quite likely without looking at the evidence - that tells us nothing about this case). Doubt is the only reasonable response.

Personally I also think that while telling your friends about your experiences is inevitable and quite right, that's a world away from going to the media - something that must have been understood by AG since she'd been famous for a long time. Far from praising her bravery, I think such actions should be very strongly discouraged. People should not seek to subvert the rule of law, whatever their motives, and in doing so they place themselves at risk of legal action. By all means go public, but let due process take its course first.

[FloriaT.]

He answered the issue on his FB https://www.facebook.com/RobertoAlagna.Tenor?hc_location=stream

[Gert]

One in four women are victims of domestic violence. And guess what, it's not just poor or uneducated people but cuts right across society. And those that make excuses contribute to it being 'normalised'.

As I wasn't in the room when it did or didn't happen I don't know and won't speculate. But I'm not going to go into denial mode due to opinions I have formed of someone based on their performances on a stage.

[Zoya]

My dear friends!
Yesterday I was failed very much after Alagna's "answer". For what that?
But today I think otherwise: that "answer" is against his of course, but it improves Angela's image nevertheless. So I'd like think that Roberto saves her by that "answer" because she has the healthy problems definitely; on the whole world: Roberto is terrible, "parasit" Cezar (see romanian media), but she is unlucky victim, with the happy smile. She has flirted with her extra-ordinarity completely.

He must not be condemned very ruthless, the life with unadequte men - the really torture, I know that "very good". And it's impossible to leave off their entirely. I think that Roberto, having bright and generous nature, does not leave her without his attention, you know he said the words of his love and gratitude for Angela always.
Oh-ho-ho... C'est la vie, my boy, c'est la vie...

[Zoya]

The crash of the naive hopes!
THE WAR!!!

[Tiny Rabbit, too]

Dignified silence is possible when discussing a personal slight or indignity kept fairly private, but it is foolhardy when considering allegations of criminal behavior which, if untrue but believed, could well damage his career regardless of whether any legal charges are ever filed. Whether he feels he wants to or not, he must defend himself or have others do it for him.

[SJT]

"Our sympathies should go out to both parties"

Please! As Shakespeare's Mercutio most succinctly put it over 400 years ago: "A plague o' both your houses!"