NFL star’s wife blasts media over assault video

The day after Ray Rice was cut loose from his $35m contract with the Baltimore Ravens following the release of a video showing him striking and knocking out his then-fiancee, his wife defended her husband and blasting the media for the pain caused to her family.

In an Instagram post written by Janay Rice, she said she felt like she was “mourning the death of my closest friend”.

“I woke up this morning, feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I’m mourning the death of my closest friend,” Janay Rice wrote in the post. “But to have to accept the fact that it’s reality is a nightmare itself. No one knows the pain that the media and unwanted opinions from the public has caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing.

“To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his ass off for all his life just to gain ratings is horrific. THIS IS OUR LIFE! If your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you’ve succeeded on so many levels.”

The video has led many to ask why Rice was only now cut from the Ravens, and why the video did not surface sooner after it was taken last May.

“We already knew it was domestic violence and you know that’s already bad enough, like, you know, if you’re only up in arms about it just by seeing the video, that’s a problem,” said Ravens running back Justin Forsett.

Rice and Palmer can be heard shouting obscenities at each other, and she appears to spit in the face of the three-time Pro Bowl running back right before he throws a brutal punch in a new edit of the video which emerged on Monday.

Rice was originally suspended for two games and coaches and others had praised his behaviour since the arrest for striking his then-fiancee in February.

The videos show Rice and Palmer in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino. Each hits the other before Rice knocks Palmer off her feet and into a railing. Months ago, a TMZ video showed Rice dragging Palmer, now his wife, from the elevator.

After Palmer collapses, he drags her out of the elevator and is met by some hotel staff. One of them can be heard saying, “She’s drunk, right?” And then, “No cops.”