Former CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin has revealed that her father once beat her with a belt so severely that she woke up "black and blue on my backside." The 47-year-old shared this previously undisclosed childhood memory in her Substack newsletter, "Unraveling," on Sunday.
Baldwin recounted the incident, which occurred during her elementary school years, in the newsletter. She wrote that the memory resurfaced after she interviewed another Southern woman who had also experienced childhood spankings. Baldwin described the intense anxiety and panic she felt knowing that physical punishment was imminent, along with a sense of defiance.
She speculated that the punishment might have been a consequence of a sibling dispute where she, as the older and larger child, took the blame for her younger brother. Baldwin stated that this particular beating was more severe than any routine spanking and marked the last time she was disciplined in that manner.
The prospect of going to sleepaway camp that week left her mortified, fearing that other children would see the bruising. Baldwin recalled showing the marks to her mother, an action she now interprets as her way of protesting the pain and injustice. She expressed her anger and her attempt to make her mother feel remorse.
Reflecting on the event decades later, Baldwin questioned whether her mother was also experiencing shame, both from the punishment and from a marriage where she felt her father held dominant authority. Baldwin observed her mother deferring to her father's decisions regarding her upbringing.
Baldwin emphasized her love for her mother and her belief that her mother did the best she could under the circumstances. However, she added that