In her first public comments on the subject, Addison Russell’s ex-wife, Melisa Reidy-Russell, wanted to wait until their divorce was final before cooperating with MLB investigators looking into domestic violence accusations against the Cubs shortstop.
“My lawyers thought I wasn’t prepared emotionally,” Reidy-Russell told ESPN in a report published Friday. “[MLB] told me I didn’t have to do it on their timeline. I told them I wanted to wait until after my divorce.”
According to sources late last season, that was the reason an investigation that began in June with a third-party Instagram accusation remained open with little progress into the offseason.
Russell has been on administrative leave since Sept. 21, after his ex-wife published a lengthy blog post outlining emotional, verbal and physical abuse during their brief marriage. That leave was extended Thursday to the end of the season.
With the divorce finalized in recent weeks, Russell’s ex-wife began cooperating with MLB since the blog post.
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“Last year when MLB contacted me, I wasn’t ready,” Reidy-Russell told ESPN. “I didn’t know what was the right thing to do. I didn’t even believe in myself enough to think I should do that [cooperate]. I just left my husband and all this blew up.”
She did not immediately come forward after the divorce was final, telling ESPN she was advised it might not be in her or her child’s financial interest.
That changed after she chose to write the blog, which was motivated by the chance “to help others” by sharing her story, she said.
“It wasn’t sitting right with me,”
Reidy-Russell said. “I took it upon myself to do what I needed to do regardless what could happen financially.”
Russell, an All-Star starter in 2016, is not expected to play again for the Cubs.
