On Monday, 20-year-old rapper XXXTentacion was shot dead in Florida.
His reps have released a statement, asking that fans respect the privacy of those who cared about him. But one person who was very close to him has come forward.
The ex-girlfriend whom he allegedly brutalized through domestic violence has broken her silence.
Gevena Ayala was XXXTentacion’s ex-girlfriend.
In light of the horrifying and vicious abuse that he allegedly perpetrated against her, a number of people apparently sought to speak on her behalf in the wake of his sudden death.
She spoke up on Twitter to ask to be left out of the conversation.
“It’s disgusting that people are speaking for me,” Geneva tweeted. “I don’t care if no one cared about me however many months ago, I didn’t lose my life. he did.”
Medical reports say that she nearly lost her sight thanks to nerve damage and some nasty fractures of her skull. But yes, she is alive.
“It’s permanent,” Geneva says, referring to her ex’s death. “I’m still here.”
We’re glad that she’s alive.
But she says that those who aren’t exactly shedding any tears over XXXTentacion’s death may be surprised by her feelings.
“Like how do you think that makes me feel?” Geneva asks. “Everyone expecting me to be relieved or happy?! No, I’m broken.”
She followed that tweet with another.
“i know y’all don’t f–k [with] me, but this isn’t about me,” Gevena says. “Just please stop tagging me in disrespectful threads and arguments.”
That sounds like a very simple request.
People mourning XXXTentacion’s death and also those who won’t lose any sleep over one less abuser in the world alike should not be trying to loop her into the argument.
“I honestly don’t care for any of the hype,” Geneva writes. “I lost someone close to me. Leave me alone.”
Geneva also took to Instagram to express her grief.
“I want to scream at the top of my lungs until I can’t then keep screaming,” Geneva says. “I don’t want to believe this. no one knows. the s–t I feel for you.”
Geneva even attended a vigil for XXXTentacion.
But, as she shared on social media, she was not well received by some of those who were present.
“They kicked me out of the vigil. so damn disrespectful,” she laments on Instagram. “I can’t believe people are that selfish.”
It is sadly not uncommon to see fans of alleged abusers express contempt or outright loathing for the alleged victims.
“I wasn’t even there 25 minutes,” Geneva explains. “And I literally got pulled away from the memorial. I just wanted to stay. I wasn’t bothering anyone. This is unfair. I’m absolutely devastated.”
In fact, there were reports that she got into a genuine scuffle with another young woman there, though that has not been confirmed.
Later, Geneva’s grief magnified when she saw that even the offerings she left at the memorial had been destroyed.
“THEY BURNED THE S–T I LEFT,” she expressed on Instagram. “THEY BURNED WHAT I BROUGHT FOR HIM IM SO MAD LIKE IM SCREAMING.”
“I left those things for him,” she explains. “I didn’t bother anyone. I said nothing to no one. I can’t believe they’d do that. How did they let that happen. Why would anyone let that happen, where is the respect?”
“He would’ve wanted me there,” she says of the deceased rapper. “I have no f–king words.”
XXXTentacion faced a litany of charges over his alleged abuse of Geneva.
Those charges included aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness-tampering.
(One of those mugshots is over allegedly intimidating a witness to his other alleged crimes)
According to court documents, Geneva in her deposition described beatings and more.
She detailed an instance of getting stabbed with a barbecue fork.
There was allegedly a time when XXXTentacion held her head underwater while threatening to drown her.
She accused him of making threats to cut out her tongue.
If you saw people on social media describe his alleged treatment of Geneva as “torture,” all of that is why.
Many may be surprised that Geneva is grieving this man, but those people have presumably never been in abusive relationships.
Women have taken to Twitter to explain times that they begged an abusive ex to not leave them, because they had become so emotionally dependent upon them.
Sometimes, abuse survivors still love their abusers. That doesn’t make what happened acceptable. That’s just how emotions work for some people.
So it is not actually a surprise to hear that the very young woman who accused XXXTentacion of such terrible things is in a state of emotional turmoil instead of relief.
We hope that she finds her peace.
