Oscar winner Marlee Matlin, best known for her role in “Children of a Lesser God”, describes her troubled relationship fellow co-star William Hurt and reveals the abuse she was subjected to while they were together in her new book titled “I’ll Scream Later.”

“I was afraid. I was always afraid… of him,” Matlin told Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell. “But I loved him. I did. Or maybe I thought I did. But look, I was 19, he was 35.”

“I always had fresh bruises everyday,” the actress revealed. “And if I had a split lip, or if… I mean, there were a lot of things that happened that were not pleasant.”

Marlee also claimed William raped her but she was too drugged (cocaine and pot) and afraid to leave him, so that’s why she never filed charges against him. The first deaf actress to win an Oscar hasn’t seen her abuser in a long time.

“No, not at the time. I was so wrapped up in his world and my drugs. The drugs took over my life, took over my brain. I was 19 and I was alone in New York City. I had no friends there except my drug dealer,” Matlin explained.

“I could say that I understand how women are afraid to leave an abusive relationship,” she continued. “They should, but at the same time, I understand how they don’t know how.”

The 43 year-old actress finally decided to break the silence, but she says she didn’t talk with William Hurt about him being a central part in her book and exposing their relationship. “Really, I had nothing to say to him. He knows what happened, I know what happened. We both were there,” Matlin said.

William Hurt Photos

[images: L. Gallo/WENN.com]