When a tape of Ray Rice knocking out his wife in an elevator surfaced, the world was shocked. While Janay Rice, the victim of the abuse, stood up for her husband and even blamed herself for the incident, most people were disgusted by it and completely turned their backs on Ray.

Robin Givens was one of the many people who had something to say about the tape. Givens said that watching the tape was difficult and it brought back memories of her own abusive relationship . Givens was once married to Mike Tyson and said that she was abused for months.

She said that Janay’s abuse is unfortunate, but the fact that it was caught on tape could help raise domestic violence awareness and inspire more abused women to come forward and seek help.

“What’s important about this video is that people can’t deny it,” Givens told Entertainment Tonight. “They can’t say, ‘Well maybe it didn’t happen. What did she do?…What did she say? Maybe she was drinking.’ We have to have this discussion because this can happen, it does happen, it happened to me and it happens to women quite a bit. And women die from this. So, we have to really begin to hold these actions and these men accountable.”

.@Therocknrobn a @YWCAUSA supporter tells @mariashriver Ray Rice incident is 'a game-changer' http://t.co/K3PZs4ZKLm pic.twitter.com/EWyrDOc5gQ

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 12, 2014

Givens said that Janay’s situation was eerily similar to her own and recalled a time when Tyson drug her down a hotel hallway.

“I remember being dragged down a hallway in a hotel in the Bahamas on a night I thought I was really going to die,” she wrote. “Today there would have been cameras in that hall. Someone would know. I would be believed. Now the story gets to tell itself.”

Given also said that she thinks many athletes and celebrities think that their fame makes them untouchable and that the women they abuse feel the same way.

She hopes that the video helps prevent more domestic violence incidents and that Janay will find the courage to leave her abusive husband.