[Music] I didn't mean to hurt you it's on camera but that's not I'd never intended to hurt you you know that no one is going to believe you everyone we know is friends with me not you and if you ever try to leave me they'll never let you keep the kids so I reached out to Lifetime we have a great partnership and um I told them that I've wanted to um be a part of this kind of film because I come from a domestic violence abuse background and there's so many people out there that need their voices to be heard and I wanted to um be a conduit of freedom for those voices yeah so I got to talk to Morgan um and you know first and foremost I mean she's so brave to be telling her story um for allowing her story to be told um and you know our conversation at first I just I really just wanted to hear her story hear it from from her and um you know whatever she wanted to share with me and you know what I appreciated about the call is that she wanted to do this for other women which is exactly what I wanted why I wanted to play her and tell the story though our story are um not the same we still have the same thread of the domestic abuse and that is the stories of other women or other people's stories might be different but it's still the same thing that happened and how we felt and what it made us feel and the gaslighting and um the crazy making and so though it may be different it still feels the [Music] same so it was really difficult onset because you know most times and I'm used to like the lifetime Christmas like everyone's just very happy and so you don't really have to you know um in between takes it's it's very light it's very fun even you know while you're filming this movie is obviously was not that um even with Austin and I were great friends so in between takes you know we didn't have that the normal fun banter in between because you're filming such serious stuff and so you have to stay in that as well you know obviously when we had like longer breaks you were able to break that but for me it was just so important to be able to tell um to to bring that truth and to bring the emotion behind it all and given that I've experienced domestic abuse and I've experienced toxic relationships like that it definitely there were some triggering moments on set um the attack scene him being on top of me not being able to breathe was very similar to my domestic abuse um story and it was it was challenging it was very triggering because the body remembers even though I've you know moved on and done the healing work myself it still felt um very triggering but again what I kept going back to is what my therapist told me she's like you're not doing this for yourself you're doing it for everyone else that needs to see the story and to bring um a voice to those that are voiceless yeah um and you know Austin and I talked about this on my podcast where it was that was the scene where we had to I he was putting the pillowcase over my head he was already on top of me and I already have like that's how when my attacker he was on top of me I couldn't move and so anytime I ever feel trapped I go right into a panic attack so I already knew this scene was going to be tough for me but Austin's on top of me you know my hands are are bound by these you know they were fake little twist ties but so I could get my hands out but still there behind me and um when he put the pillowcase over my head how he put it over my head and again this isn't Austin's fault at all but it was tight to my face so when I breathed in I breathed in the pillowcase and I couldn't felt like I couldn't breathe um so I just scream really loud so much so that everyone knew it was time to cut um and then I just started balling just because that feeling of not being able to breathe um feeling trapped again felt like my scenario when I was 19 years old that moment was like all right this is got a call cut this is not that and trying to separate um was the the biggest piece of this movie separating you know what is the reality versus what is the past and I always said like I'm telling the story for the people that can't um and for the people that you know why it's called gaset like it starts with making you feel crazy and you were like wait I didn't but I didn't say that but then you think that you're the problem there's so many times in my situation where I thought it was my fault um and you know I remember having the makeup on my face and being bruised and bloody and and you know kind of remembering that this is someone out there that needs you know to see this movie so Austin was my very first pick for this movie because you know him and I had a close relationship on One Tree Hill uh he's my favorite acting part partner to work work with he's just I feel very safe with him and I would I needed a safe person with me to act this with because um though again it's we're telling a story and it's not reality we wanted to bring so much life to it and the reality of it so um to know that he was there not only made this um safer but also um we were able to really you know get into our characters and and um and you know find pieces to change and and make this as close to what it what it was well that's the the greatest part about acting is being able to you know though we played Alex and Julian you know now we went into Morgan and Rodney and that's the the fun piece of acting where though it was really hard stuff to act both of us got some closure and got um we had some you know moments we were really proud of on set I know Austin you know he spoke about how he felt like he finally was able to uh tap into his emotional side in this movie and he had struggled with that in the past and for me I was able to stand up there on the stand and and um get closure from my abusive past that I didn't even know that I needed so there was a lot of moments in this movie too that gave us a little bit of freedom for me what I want uh viewers to get from this movie is that you are not crazy gaslighting is sneaky and it comes up when you don't even know that it's there and so you know to to pay attention to the scenes to see if that's happening in your relationship um also so you know for me to be able to see something played out and go wait no that's not okay um is important because sometimes when you're in a relationship you think that it's okay or you think that it's your fault or you think that you're the crazy one and most chances are you're not if and also if you're unsafe or someone's you know putting their hands on you like there is help and that's what again I love about lifetime is they've got this new campaign stop violence against women and it's so important because there are people that will believe you and listen to you and hear you out and give you a voice and I just um yeah I mean it's the unfortunate thing is that it's happening in so many households and um you I felt like I was crazy and I just want people to know that they're not crazy and that it happens what I realized through this process was that I still needed closure even after um 20 plus years um that courtroom scene gave me closure for my abuser that I was able to I guess you can find Freedom and closure in things even years after the doors are closed so however that is for you to find that you can still find that closure I got I was lucky I was able to get away from my abusive relationship um now he tried to kill me but yet I was able to get out and not many people can get out um or feel safe enough to get out or and it takes a lot of strength to to um you know to get out but I think the heart the the the thing that I think you know I just I want people to know that people will believe you and they will listen to you and there is help out there it was a great teaching moment having my daughter on there because I want her to know what is right and what is wrong what is acceptable what's not acceptable in a relationship or in any kind of friendship um you know not putting hands on some someone not speaking to someone like that so it was a very age appropriate conversation but also what was right versus what's wrong and I hope she knows her worth so that she would never allow that to happen when she gets older but unfortunately like with the gaslighting it's slow it's Sneaky and it's just it creeps up on you and then you don't even realize you're in it Jolie definitely wants to keep acting so I'm like well maybe I won't be in all the movies that you're in like I'd love to be but you know she's just like I want to do it so yeah we'll [Music] see I mean I would love to I've heard some rumors but I mean I would love to do you know want Tree Hill again just to even play you know Alex one more time would be so fun but anything with Austin or you know any of the cast would be super fun [Music]