Alice Glass has released a statement on her website today (24 October) detailing years of alleged rape and abuse from the former Crystal Castles co-founder Ethan Kath.
According to the new statement, Kath – real name Claudio Palmieri – allegedly first assaulted her in tenth grade: “The first time he took advantage of me was when I was around 15. He was 10 years older than me. I came to in the back of his car extremely intoxicated (from drinks he had given me that night). We didn’t talk for months after that. He went to great lengths to find me again, stalking me and driving past my high school looking for me.” Over a period of months, Kath allegedly gave her drugs and alcohol. The two had sex that wasn’t “always consensual”.
this is why I had to leave Crystal Castles. here is my story: https://t.co/bs9aJRwgms #metoo
— ALICE GLASS (@ALICEGLASS) October 24, 2017
“I perceived him as a local rock star because I had seen his band, Kill Cheerleader, on TV. A lot of my friends from the punk scene had also been taken advantage of by much older men, so to me, it was a situation that had been normalized,” she added.
During the recording process of Crystal Castles’ first EP Alice Practice, Glass was allegedly assaulted by the band’s recording engineer while Kath encouraged her to co-operate. Glass claims Kath later became “physically abusive”, was “manipulative” and controlled what she did. “He forced me to have sex with him or, he said, I wouldn’t be allowed to be in the band anymore,” she said.
She ends her statement with an explanation for leaving the band: “Leaving Crystal Castles was the single most difficult decision I’ve ever made – that band was everything to me. My music, my performances and my fans were all I had in the world. I gave that up and started over not because I wanted to but because I had to. As difficult as it was, I knew that leaving was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It has taken me years to recover from enduring almost a decade of abuse, manipulation and psychological control. I am still recovering.”
Glass has detailed her alleged experiences of abuse before, but never disclosed a name until now. In 2015, she spoke about how she removed herself from an abusive relationship that first began when she was a teenager: “Over the course of that relationship I was systematically cut off from anyone and everyone that I could truly be close to. I was talked down to, yelled at, locked into rooms and criticised daily about my abilities, my weight, my looks, my intelligence and almost every move I made”.
Read the full statement here.