Man Abused by Girlfriend Lost Over 60 Lbs. in 2 Months as She Controlled His Diet, Wouldn't Let Him Use Toilet

Mar. 15, 2025

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A U.K. man is speaking out about his ex-girlfriend’s abuse — including controlling his diet, biting him and preventing him from using the toilet — after it caused him to lose over 60 lbs. and got her sentenced to 20 months in prison.

“I guess they call it love bombing,” Jones told theBBCof the relationship’s early stages. “I thought, ‘How can this person be so loving?’ I think it takes you aback … you think this could really be the one, and this could work out. It was overly powerful.”

She soon took full control of his finances, cut him off from his loved ones and put strict rules in place, they added. Despite the fact that he worked from home, Jones was also not allowed to be in the house alone and was never given a key to the property.

“She made me sleep on the floor with no covers if things weren’t going her way, as a punishment,” Jones told the outlet. “I wasn’t allowed to shower or shave, or use the toilet. I had to hold it in and try to make it down to the local supermarket or a pub or a restaurant.”

“She clawed me through my jumper, my arm was actually bleeding, until she forced me into buying something expensive for her,” he added to the outlet.

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But, continuing to communicate with his mom — and deleting his messages to her to avoid abuse — Jones eventually snuck out to meet her for coffee, he told the BBC. He added that his mom “broke down in front of me” upon learning of his situation.

“I thought, ‘I can’t put my family through it any longer,’ ” Jones said. “They were imploring me to leave.”

In March 2022, Jones decided to seek help from the ManKind Initiative, a U.K. charity that provides support for male victims of domestic abuse, and his experience inspired him to go to the police.

He left with “only the clothes on my back,” got therapy, and began rebuilding his finances and relationships from scratch. “It knocked my confidence for a long time,” he told the BBC. “I had low self-esteem because of the constant abuse.”

In a statement released after the sentencing, Cheshire Police Detective Constable Sophie Ward called Jones’ situation “the worst case of controlling and coercive behavior I have ever seen.”

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

source: people.com