In an exclusive interview with CBN News, Gospel music singer James Fortune has opened up for the first time about what unfolded in his home in 2014, and what’s followed in the last nearly two years of his life.
The chart-topping recording artist, singer and songwriter has for nearly two years had his music career take a back seat to charges of domestic violence.
The incident happened at his home in October of 2014, but in March of this year, Fortune faced a judge and pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife Cheryl Fortune.
He and Cheryl, the wife are legally separated and moving forward with a divorce. Legally, they can have no contact with each other for the next five years. He spent six months separated from his four children.
“This was something that was difficult for me,” Fortune shared.
“A lot of people were saying don’t talk about it, kind of just let it go. Let people forget about it and move on and kind of move on with your life. But as I was praying, my spirit, that didn’t sit well with me,” he recalled.
“God was like, I want you to share your story because domestic violence is something the Church doesn’t talk about,” Fortune said.
“I am basically stretching out and saying, you know what, I was a perpetrator of domestic violence. I was an abuser in more ways that one. But I believe that is how God is healing me,” he told CBN News’ Efrem Graham.
I was an abuser
“I’ve learned a lot more now since I have been in therapy for almost 18 months,” he said.
“I was a perpetrator of domestic violence. I was an abuser. I thought domestic violence was just if you hit your wife, you slap your wife. But I found out there are 18 forms of abuse and only one of them is physical,” he explained.
“So, it didn’t start with physical. That night, that is what caused me to be arrested obviously. But there were other forms of abuse that I was a perpetrator of, intimidation,” Fortune added.
A judge sentenced Fortune to five years probation, five days in jail, and 175 hours of community service.
He’s still working to complete his 175 hours of community service. But he has served the five-day jail term.
“I had a lot of time to just think. I had a lot of time to think, why am I in here? What am I doing because I have sung in so many prisons. I have ministered in prisons — I mean maximum security prisons and shared the gospel,” Fortune said.
“One thing I will say is that God allowed me to understand I am only in here because of my bad decision. My own choices. It is nobody else’s fault,” he said.
Contemplating Suicide & Divine Intervention
Sitting down to talk about this process was a big step for Fortune. He could not have imagined sitting down for this interview two years ago.
In fact, there was a time he contemplated suicide.
“There was a time when I didn’t think I would get to this place to feel the way I feel now. It was a place where there seemed like there was no light at the end of the tunnel,” Fortune recalled. “It seemed like all hope was lost. And it wasn’t anyone else fault but my own.”
“And I started just feeling so guilty for what I had did, bad choices that I had made in my life and I just didn’t feel like I had anything to live for,” he said. “And so, at that point that I was going to take a whole bottle of those Xanax pills and just go to sleep.”
Fortune says prayer kept him from taking that bottle.
“So many people were letting me know that, ‘James it’s not over. It’s not the end.’ Many pastors and many Christian leaders around the country and around the world were reaching out to me,” he said.
Sharing His Story
During that time, Fortune recorded the song “Prayer Saved My Life” .
“As I share with other people what God has been doing through my life, so many other people are reaching out and a lot of men are reaching out,” he said. “But so many women are reaching out and saying ‘We always hear the victims talk, but we never hear the perpetrator speak about where this comes from, why this happens and how it’s not their fault.'”
“So the process has been something that I would say was necessary,” Fortune said.
There’s still more work ahead for James Fortune and his family. That is his priority now. And at some point, he hopes to be ready to return to recording.
