Jana Kramer’s latest film, Lifetime’s “Gaslit By My Husband: The Morgan Metzer Story,” is a meaningful and personal one for her.
“I’ve always wanted to do a piece on domestic violence, given my domestic abuse background,” she told Access Hollywood guest correspondent Emily Orozco of the movie. “When I was reading the script, I was like, though it’s Morgan’s story, there were so many pieces of my story too that happened in that movie … For me, I wanted to be able to shed light on a topic that so many women go through and something that I personally as well went through.”
Jana was abused during her first marriage to then-husband Michael Gambino, who was sentenced to six years in prison for attempted murder and later died by suicide. The actress has long been outspoken about her experience in hopes of helping others, and she reflected on her past while stepping into character as Morgan and filming some of “Gaslit By My Husband’s” most harrowing scenes.
“I knew that [the attack scene] was going to be really hard,” she shared. “The last time that I saw my abuser was when he was strangling me and on top of me and I couldn’t breathe, so I didn’t know if I wanted to tap back into that, because I’ve done so much work to distance myself from that and go through those emotions.”
“I didn’t even know if I wanted to feel that again, but my therapist was like, ‘You’re not doing this for you. You’re doing it for the woman that needs to see this movie,'” Jana added. “So, that was a very powerful thing for me to take control. I got to kind of rewrite the script that day through Morgan’s story, so I got to take my power back. I got to change the ending of what happened.”
Jana said filming Morgan’s courtroom scene was a healing experience, because in her own life, she “never got to say anything to [her] abuser when [they] were in court.”
“For me, I didn’t even know I needed that moment, but when I finished it, [it] was almost like this weight was lifted, and I was able to kind of just be free from the experience of that,” she shared.
Jana added that she wants other survivors of abusive relationships to know that there is hope and that they are not alone.
“I think it’s so hard, because when you’re in those relationships, you think it’s either a) your fault, or b) you’re alone in this, and that you deserve it. That’s how I felt. I know that’s how Morgan felt, too,” she said.
“It’s hard to say that, because even when I think about when I was in my situation, people could tell that to me, but I would be like, ‘No, it’s my fault,’ or ‘I deserve it,'” she added. “But, the bottom line is you don’t deserve that.”
“Gaslit By My Husband: The Morgan Metzer Story” premieres June 9 at 8/7c on Lifetime.
If you or someone you know needs help, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE.