"One day we were driving in the car and he was going 90 miles an hour and threatening to crash it," she said. "There were other times when he would bite me leaving a mark. There was choking. There was slapping. All those things that you don't assume will happen to you and suddenly you are involved."
Castillo details her traumatic experiences in her memoir “Embracing Me,” which explores her survival of intimate partner violence. Castillo says while she wasn't the victim of sexual abuse, the physical and emotional abuse she endured at one point had her contemplating suicide. Castillo said the sense of shame and isolation is common bond that most women involved in intimate partner violence share.