she is married to retired nfl player wally williams. ed on the cleveland browns, baltimore ravens, and new orleans saints. dewan smith-williams is a survivor of domestic abuse herself. she says the league pressured her to keep quiet about the abuse. dewan smith-williams is also an advanced practice psychiatric mental health nurse. we welcome you to democracy now! why don't you start, dewan smith-williams, by talking about your own experience, the abuse that you suffered, and what happened when you turned to the nfl for help. well, first, i would like to say thank you so much for having me. i want to say that this isn't about my situation. i'm not a victim. i am here to make a change, hopefully, promote change within the nfl. in my particular situation, -- thend i became situation, our marriage became very tumultuous. he basically wanted to do what he wanted to do and when i would oppose it, there would be problems. i was a participant in the arguing and the fighting. in my situation, i think of my husband had been in the diversion progra

earlier i spoke with the wife of retired player wally williams.re domestic abuse issues in their relationship and claims that the nfl has a history of not helping women in those circumstances. take a listen. >> i'm not here to throw my husband under the bus. he's a wonderful father and great provider. however, there were issues. when those issues were going on, when i reached out for help whether it be for counselling, they listened but it's the nod of the head and how can you help me. can you help me? when will you help me? >> very isolating. >> very isolating. it breaks my heart to see because i know she's on an island and because she has to protect what she has because that is her life right now. and she's riding on ray rice's career at this point. so she has to protect that. if he punches her like that in a public place, i can't imagine what she's going through at home. >> let me ask you about what you said about reaching out. at the time when you reached out to people within the nfl organization for help or assistance, even just to be heard,

wally williams' wife has a very interesting and very personal and candid take on her own experience with domestic violence. she said when she went to the nfl, not only did they not acknowledge it, they didn't act or support her. she says she's not the only one. i want you to take a listen. >> patted you on the head, is that what it felt like? >> it happened to me, it happened to others. >> did it happened to others or did you think? did you and other wives speak? >> it was a common practice. i had friends who had black eyes, they said they walked into cupboards, i had friends who said they ran them over like on the football field. you have men playing violent sport and it's okay to enforce their will on the football field. they come home at night and they are not used to not getting their way. so when you say no, when you say you're not going to do this, they enforce their will. and you don't stop it, you don't break it. if you call the police, the police say you don't want this in the news. >> i was so surprised by how candid she was. you gasped. i did too. she's not among the voices to

dewan williams with us, married to the retired player wally williams.an says she, too, met with domestic violence at one point in their relationship and after it happened that's the key part, that the coaches told her, don't talk to the media, don't get a lawyer, and she says the league turned a blind eye to ray rice's axship but that they should not band him for life. why not? >> well, i feel that because domestic violence has been an ongoing issue within the nfl, for many years, and because it has never been viewed by the public, you know, it was allowed to go on. now that there's something that is -- that you can see with your own eyes and witness it, if you told someone that something like that happened to you, they would say no way, he would never do that, that would never happen. you turn around and marry that person. but there was something there that allowed her to do that. >> now the league told you, don't get a lawyer. >> uh-huh. >> and don't talk about this. how did you respond to that and what did you think of that? how did they tell you? >>

dejuan williams acknowledges domestic abuse in her marriage to retired nfl player wally williams. i asked her what she thinks of roger goodell, the commissioner of the nfl, has said about the ray rice situation. >> i think he's full of it. i think that it's disheartening for them to even say that they had no idea what was on that tape clear thely the way that went down that's something that's happened before. she is -- it's disheartening. i know for myself and -- i mean, i was never punched like that but when you reach out, you're left on an island by yourself. people dissociate themselves from you. the nfl turns their back on you. >> there's so much to ask you about. help us understand. you've experienced your own issues and you've been forthcoming about it. you've had your own issues with domestic violence in your marriage. >> i have. and nothing that i'm proud of and i'm not here to throw my husband under the bus. he's a wonderful provider, great father and somehow we're still married. however, there were issues and when those issues were going on, when i reached out for help,

let's bring in wally williams, a former baltimore ravens offensive lineman. and mr.y wire, fox sports analyst, former nfl player. gentlemen, thank you for joining me about this. a better conversations i'm sure you wish we could be having about the sport. but sometimes the relevance transcends mere sport. that's what we're dealing with this more. cory, let me start with you and what i believe should be obvious -- do you believe the nfl didn't know what happened in that elevator until this video came out? >> i find it hard to believe one, that they didn't know. and that if they did want to know, there should have been a way for them to find out. if not, well then they need to hire someone from tmz to do the investigative services for them. because i think that's absurd. for them to not make an effort, a concerted effort to find out what really happened inside of that elevator, it baffles me. >> baffles. baffles, hard to believe, think those are the right phrases here. waly, the ravens say you're a former ball club, they had no choice but to release ray rice given what

are nbc national reporter and dewan smith williams, wife of foreigner nfl offensive lineman, wally williamsng promise, a nonprofit aiming to stop intimate partner violence. and managing director of a domestic violence project. in this most recent week as the the nfl has decided to get tough on ray rice, who does that help most? >> the nfl. zble it's making them feel like they are corrupting the probleming. or maybe making the the problem better. but it's not about make it better or correcting it. it's about changing the behavior that has been ongoing for a very, very long time. and it saddens my heart to see j janay in the video. you can see the hurt and pain in her face. any woman who has been in a situation where they have been, whether verbally abused, physically abused, abuse is abuse. any woman that has been in that experience knows that pain without a shadow of a doubt. and you know, right now janay is protecting what she has, because that's all she has. >> when you say that, i do not want to miss that. i keep feeling like the story that emerging from this, if you listen with differen