Janay Rice's Tells-All In New Interview With NBC's 'Today Show' Anchor Matt Lauer: Janay's Mother Candy Palmer Says, 'I Was Very Upset' With Ray Rice, Her Son-In Law [VIDEO]

By Star Connor s.connor@mstarsnews.com | Dec 01, 2014 12:15 PM EST

Monday morning seemed to signal a new day for Janay Rice, as she opened up to NBC's Matt Lauer for the Today Show about the moments her now-husband, former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice, knocked her unconscious in a casino elevator earlier this year.

MStars News previously reported that Ray won his appeal against his suspension, and is currently eligible to play for any team in the NFL.

The Rice family made headlines once again over the Thanksgiving weekend, this time it wasn't for the elevator incident, but for Janay's tell-all reflection about that violent night to ESPN's Jemele Hill.

Monday, it was Lauer's turn to ask the domestic abuse victim, and now-wife of Ray Rice, how she feels today.

With her name in headlines, Janay seemed to keep calm and remain silent out of the media spotlight, so the NBC anchor asked Janay was it hard to keep quiet?

Janay answered: "Yes. That's been the hardest part, is having so much of your life made public and have it all be negative. That's the hardest part. Is not having control over anything that has to do with you. It's a natural thing for a human to want to come out and say, 'No, no. That's not me,' or, 'No, that's not true.' But it's like a battle that we just can't win."

Janay claims that she and her husband knew that there was a tape after the Valentines Day weekend incident, but says she didn't see the video until it was released.

"We knew that it was going to happen. We didn't know exactly when it was going to happen. But there was no preparing us for that at all. When I saw that it was horrible you can't make excuses for anything, but we were highly intoxicated." Janay said to Lauer. "And in the moment you're not thinking about, 'Oh my god. I'm on camera in an elevator.' So of course people are going to read into everything and pick at everything about the situation. We understand that."

Though Janay revealed that she watched the first tape, she says she refuses to watch the second tape, where she was knocked unconscious.

"No. I refuse. I refuse. I'm not going to let the public bring me back there."

Both, Janay and her mother, Candy Palmer claim that the elevator incident was the first time Ray ever laid a hand on his wife. They say he has never been that way before.

"Not at all. Ray knows me. And there's no way. He knows what he would have to deal with, you know, if this was something. You know, I'm not going to sit there in silence and let something happen to me - and God forbid, in front of my child, just like, let it happen? There's no way."

Janay's mom Candy says that she was so upset with her son-in-law for not saying sorry right then at that moment, or even helping his then unconscious girlfriend.

"I was very upset by that part and I told him so. I basically told him that I didn't care who was out there at the elevator. 'You should have never left her there like that.' I did tell him that," Candy says.

Janay adds, "And I asked him after I saw it, 'Why did you just leave me there like that?' He said he was terrified. He was in such shock that this had just happened and he didn't know how to function at that point. And then, you know, obviously by that time hotel security is there, the police are there." 

You can check out rest of the interview below. 

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