Ray Rice Interview: ‘No Relationship Is Perfect,’ Discusses Lack Of Apology
Former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice opened up Tuesday during his first televised interview since the controversial incident between him and his wife was publicly exposed earlier this year.
One of the biggest topics covered during Ray’s interview with Matt Lauer was the incident in February where the NFL star was recorded punching Janay Palmer Rice unconscious in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino.
Lauer had a chance to interview Janay on Monday and asked her if there was a history of domestic violence and abuse in their relationship.
When the Today show host brought the same topic up to Ray Rice during their interview, Rice responded by saying that no relationship is perfect. Although they had verbal arguments in the past, Rice stated it had never escalated to a physical, “uncharacteristic” level before the incident in February.
“You know, we weren’t in a perfect relationship. No relationship is perfect. We’ve had arguments, but when you talk about abuse…that’s something that we know that we’d never cross that path. But then did we say things to each other that we want to take back at times? Yeah, we crossed that line before, but it never got to an altercation where it went that far. That was just very uncharacteristic of myself. I take responsibility. That was very uncharacteristic.”
During the Today show interview, Ray Rice also had a chance to talk about the mistake that he made by not publicly apologizing to his wife.
Rice was heavily criticized after the press conference held in May. Matt Lauer did not hesitate to bring that particular day up during the interview, stating that a lot of people were upset by the fact that Janay was the one that apologized publicly instead of Ray.
The 27-year-old former Baltimore Ravens running back responded by talking about the legal situations that were lurking in the background at the time as well as his overall nervousness.
“The reason why that press conference was the way it was, was because we were still under legal situations. So there wasn’t much that could be said, but I’ll be honest, we were nervous, I was nervous, and that was the first time we were available to speak. And I made a horrendous mistake not apologizing to my wife.”
Ray Rice further expressed to Matt Lauer that what he and Janay said during that press conference did not even sincerely come from them at all, but he tried to make it right after the fact.
“We were given what to speak about. It wasn’t truly coming from us, if you can understand, but I made that clear in my last time I was able to speak that my wife is an angel. She can do no wrong. I take full responsibility for my actions.”
Ray also discussed his thoughts on a judge’s decision to overturn his indefinite suspension from the NFL on Friday as well as his hopes for getting signed to a team in the near future. Rice stated that even if he is not signed by a professional football team, he would still focus on adapting to life so that his wife could have a better future.
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