Carole King, the Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter, has revealed that Rick Evers, her third husband, physically abused her during their relationship. King married the composer in 1977; the two had met during the recording of her album 'Simple Things'. The marriage continued until Evers died in 1978 from a heroin overdose. King revealed in her book, 'A Natural Woman', that he had a bad temper and hit her over their yearlong marriage. 

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She explained one of the occasions, saying: "Without warning he struck with his right fist, he hit me hard as if he were in a boxing ring, except he wasn't wearing gloves and he wasn't in a boxing ring." The 70-year-old King thinks that it is important for people to hear the story, in order to draw attention to domestic abuse in the world, and make sure that victims know that help is available. 

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In an interview with 'Today on Tuesday' on 10th April, 2012, King explained that: "I wasn't sure I was going to include it in the book but I wanted people to understand, people who go through that, mostly women but some men, that you're not alone. This is a phenomenon that can even happen to someone like me, who was successful, who had financial independence and what I learned is it's a really bad dynamic and it's very hard to get out [of]."