Alice Glass has shared a new statement about her departure from Crystal Castles three years ago.
In the statement, which was posted on her website and can be read in full here, Glass details years of alleged abuse, both psychological and sexual, from co-founder Ethan Kath whose real name is Claudio Palmieri.
"I met “Ethan Kath” (Claudio Palmieri) when I was in the 10th grade," she says. "The first time he took advantage of me was when I was around 15. He was 10 years older than me."
She continues: "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."
Glass goes on to detail the ways in which she says Palmieri manipulated her, saying that "he figured out my securities and exploited them: he used the things he learned about me against me." She also alleges that Palmieri controlled her use of her mobile phone, her use of her credit cards, her eating habits, who she spoke to and where she could go.
"He became physically abusive," she says. "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."
Glass says early in her statement that the momentum created by many women recently speaking out publicly against the men who had sexually and psychologically abused them had inspired her to share more details about why she left Crystal Castles.
She concludes: "Leaving Crystal Castles was the single most difficult decision I’ve ever made—that band was everything to me. My music, my performances and my fans were all I had in the world. I gave that up and started over not because I wanted to but because I had to. As difficult as it was, I knew that leaving was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It has taken me years to recover from enduring almost a decade of abuse, manipulation and psychological control. I am still recovering."
In response, Palmieri has sent a statement to Pitchfork, describing Glass’ allegations as "pure fiction". He continues: "I am consulting my lawyers as to my legal options. Fortunately, there are many witnesses who can and will confirm that I was never abusive to Alice."
Alice Glass left Crystal Castles in October of 2014. At the time, she said: "My art and my self-expression in any form has always been an attempt towards sincerity, honesty, and empathy for others. For a multitude of reasons both professional and personal I no longer feel that this is possible within CC."
In April 2015, Palmieri released a new track as Crystal Castles, and said of Glass: "I think it can be empowering for her to be in charge of her own project. It should be rewarding for her considering she didn’t appear on Crystal Castles’ best known songs."
Glass subsequently responded: "I was a founding member of Crystal Castles and shaped the sound and aesthetic from the very beginning… manipulative statements about my contributions to the band only reinforce the decision I made to move on to other things."
