Janay Rice: Who am I to put my hands on somebody?

Janay Rice is talking for the first time about her husband, Ray Rice, clocking her in an elevator.

ESPN agreed to hold the interview until after the U.S. District judge issued their ruling on her husband’s future with the NFL.

In the interview, Janay says she doesn’t remember what she and Ray were fighting about in Atlantic City back in February, but says she does remember Ray got physical first. “As we were arguing, he was on his phone and not looking at me. I went to reach for his phone, and when he grabbed it back, he spit at me and I slapped him.”

On Apologizing for Her Role in the Incident at Ravens News Conference:
” I know some people disagreed with me publicly apologizing. I’m not saying that what Ray did wasn’t wrong. He and I both know it was wrong. It’s been made clear to him that it was wrong. But at the same time, who am I to put my hands on somebody? ”

On What Ray Was Thinking After He Hit Her:

“I asked him how he felt when he saw that I was unconscious. He told me he was in shock. I asked him what happened when we got out of the elevator. He told me he was terrified because security was there. I asked him how he felt seeing me like that. He said he was thinking, “What did I just do?” I didn’t watch the video again.”

On What Ray and Janay told Roger Goodell:

“Ray told the commissioner, and his colleagues, everything that happened. There was no reason to lie because we knew that there was a video and we assumed the NFL knew what was in it, even though we didn’t know whether or not they saw it.

 

On Anger at Baltimore Ravens for Cutting Ray:

“I was extremely surprised and angry that the Ravens released him, because they know him. They were our family, but I felt like the Ravens completely disregarded the past six years with him. Anytime the Ravens needed someone for a community event, Ray was their man.

On Being a Martyr for Domestic Violence:

“If it took our situation becoming headline news to show domestic violence is happening in this country, that’s a positive.” h/t tmz