Reality television star Kiki Morris has opened up about being subjected to physical violence at the hands of an ex-boyfriend, saying she felt like a prisoner in the relationship.
Morris first rose to fame as a contestant on The Bachelor in 2016, vying for the affections of Richie Strahan, and later appeared on the third season of Bachelor in Paradise.
Last year, she took out the top prize on Channel 10’s competition series The Challenge, walking away with $100,000.
The socialite and social media influencer has just launched a podcast with her Spanish fiance Jorge Darek, Yours&Ours, where they want to “show what lies beneath a glossy image”.
“We want to show we’re real people because being able to speak openly without fear of Judgement is a really therapeutic thing,” Morris said in the podcast’s second episode, released this week.
“This is a safe space. I want to help inspire people to be more vulnerable.”
Morris spoke about how she never imagined herself in an unhealthy relationship.
“If you look at the history of my relationships in the past... I’ve been the peacekeeper, I haven’t left at the first red flag because you become so easily brainwashed and you want to see the best in a person,” she said.
In 2020, her ex-boyfriend Jeremy Peter Banks pleaded guilty to pinning her to a couch by her throat and slapping her in an attack at their home in May 2018.
A Sydney court heard she managed to break free and fled outside, falling into the arms of a concerned neighbour who phoned the police.
When officers arrived, they found Morris with a bloodied lip, a grazed cheek, bruising around her eyes and redness on her elbows.
Banks was charged with assault causing bodily harm and common assault, but the matter was dropped when Morris failed to appear in court in July 2018.
Several months later, the NSW Director of Public Prosecutors argued that her video interview with police about the attack should be admitted and a new trial was ordered.
Police also discovered that Banks had bombarded Morris with social media messages and texts, pressuring her to drop the case.
He was charged with preventing a potential witness from attending court proceedings.
Among the countless messages was an admission that he had assaulted her as well as demands she ignore police appeals to co-operate with the case.
In a statement of facts tendered to the court, police said Banks’ contact, in breach of a restraining order, amounted to “a deliberate attempt to manipulate the victim into avoiding police and persuading her not to attend court to give evidence”.
“He specifically requested her co-operation and referenced their relationship continuing after the court matter resolved in his favour.
“He spoke of making up for past mistakes in their relationship after the court matter was ‘over and done with’ and offered to propose to her to prove his commitment. This message in particular was sent in the context of the accused asking for ‘help with this situation’ asking the victim she wanted the accused to go to jail.”
Banks pleaded guilty of all charges in September 2020.
Speaking on the podcast about the experience, Morris spoke about how so many women in violent relationships are questioned about why they don’t leave.
“So many young women out there, they allow the emotional abuse … [to] wear them down and they become almost a prisoner of the abuse,” she said.
“The idea of leaving and then something worse happening than staying is what holds people almost like a prisoner in that circumstance.”
Morris urged women to “know they deserve respect at all times”.
“They don’t deserve to be spoken down to, they don’t deserve to be physically assaulted, taunted, or threatened,” she said.
“In those moments where those things are happening, don’t desensitise yourself [to it] by saying, ‘oh, he’ll change, or he doesn’t mean it’.
“You need to have a standard of what you’re willing to accept and if that standard is not being delivered to you, you’re no longer available to that person.
“If you need to get the police involved, if you need to get family members involved and leave the house, you should definitely do it at the first opportunity.”
She spoke of the scourge of family violence in Australia and the fact that 70 women have been allegedly killed by a partner this year.
“Women bring life into the world but we’re treated second-rate by these narcissistic and toxic men … we need to support each other a lot more.
“If you’re a man or a woman and you see a family member, and you have a gut instinct that something doesn’t sit right, something might be going on in that household or relationship, the best thing you can do to help that person is raise a red flag.”
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