Best Abusive Relationship Movies & TV Shows

This is a true story about the relationship between a mother and her daughter, and their struggle to make it to the top in the music world. It is about hopes and dreams... about relationships and about growing up.

True story of an abusive husband's obsession with his wife and daughter.

Faith Jenkins investigates burgeoning romances from their sweet beginnings, and follows what happened all the way through to their bitter endings. With her background as a criminal prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, and her expertise in matters of the heart, Faith gives her professional POV of the nightmarish cases. With firsthand accounts from victims' family, friends and law enforcement, each episode reveals the inner workings of intimate attachments that seemed fated to last forever and ended in murder.

A boy imprisoned by an abusive recluse mother alone in a mansion in the 1920s begins to get ideas of his own when a goblin in his closet comforts him in the dark.

A former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

A grieving teen finds an unexpected connection with two classmates at her new high school after they all land in the same Shoplifters Anonymous group.

An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing 'Mister' Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa.

When everyone else mysteriously vanishes from their wealthy town, the teen residents of West Ham must forge their own society to survive.

Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the sport is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.

Child abuse, mental illness, and forbidden love converge in this mystery involving a mother and daughter who were thought to be living a fairy tale life that turned out to be a living nightmare.

No one listens when a teenager suspects that her cousin is in an abusive relationship.

Dolores Claiborne was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera Donovan, and this time there is a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. Things look bad for Dolores when her daughter Selena, a successful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to cover the story.

The career of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is halted by a witch hunt in the late 1940s when he defies the anti-communist HUAC committee and is blacklisted.

When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

Singer Tina Turner rises to stardom while mustering the courage to break free from her abusive husband Ike.

When Rudy Baylor, a young attorney with no clients, goes to work for a seedy ambulance chaser, he wants to help the parents of a terminally ill boy in their suit against an insurance company. But to take on corporate America, Rudy and a scrappy paralegal must open their own law firm.

A father reminisces about his childhood when he and his younger brother moved to a new town with their mother, her new husband and their dog, Shane. When the younger brother is subjected to physical abuse at the hands of their brutal stepfather, Mike decides to convert their toy trolley, the "Radio Flyer", into a plane to fly him to safety.

A mild-mannered professor moonlighting as a fake hit man in police stings ignites a chain reaction of trouble when he falls for a potential client.

Georgia Benfield, at her wit's end, loses control and begins physically abusing her elderly mother, just as Georgia had been abused herself as a child. As family and friends slowly begin to learn of the abuse, and long-buried family secrets come to light, both mother and daughter must learn to accept the past, to change what is happening at present in order to face a better future.

A young woman with precognition realizes she is being stalked by a killer -- a mass murderer she previously had used her psychic powers to identify to the skeptical police.

A man stalks his wife and child when they leave for an abused women's shelter.

A dark domestic melodrama about the ties that bind and the ties that really bind.

After a woman's husband beats and abuses her, she and her son join the witness protection program and move away secretly.

John Cummings, an unsuccessful cosmetics salesman, has his unpaid-for car stolen by one of the hoods in the employ of Lionel Meadows, the sadistic organizer of a London car conversion racket. The car was not insured, and since the police appear indifferent to his plight, Cummings decides to find it himself -- and gets himself involved in an underworld battle.

A look at J.K. Rowling from her humble beginnings as an imaginative young girl and awkward teenager, to the loss of her mother and the genesis of the Harry Potter book series.

An abused battered wife has had enough of husband beating up on her. Everywhere she turns for help, there's not much anyone will do. After he rapes her one night, she sets the bed on fire with him in it asleep.

Mike Lane takes to the stage again after a lengthy hiatus, following a business deal that went bust, leaving him broke and taking bartender gigs in Florida. For what he hopes will be one last hurrah, Mike heads to London with a wealthy socialite who lures him with an offer he can’t refuse… and an agenda all her own. With everything on the line, once Mike discovers what she truly has in mind, will he—and the roster of hot new dancers he’ll have to whip into shape—be able to pull it off?

Shy sixteen-year-old Stacy Collins can't believe that the most popular guy in school, an attractive athlete named Bobby Tennison, is interested in her. At first she is flattered by his constant attention, but then he becomes possessive and jealous-telling her who she can speak to and what she can wear. Threats escalate into violence when Bobby thinks Stacy has stepped out of line. Soon she is walking on egg shells and living in fear. Having seen the tell-tale bruises, Stacy's best friend convinces her to break things off with Bobby-but in a moment of weakness, Stacy goes to meet him. It will be the last time she is seen alive.

Having grown sick and tired of his centuries as Dracula's lackey, Renfield finds a new lease on life — and maybe even redemption — when he falls for feisty, perennially angry traffic cop Rebecca Quincy.

Working-class waitress Slim thought she was entering a life of domestic bliss when she married Mitch, the man of her dreams. After the arrival of their first child, her picture perfect life is shattered when she discovers Mitch's hidden possessive dark side, a controlling and abusive alter ego that can turn trust, love and tranquility into terror. Terrified for her child's safety, Slim flees with her daughter. Relentless in his pursuit and enlisting the aid of lethal henchmen, Mitch continually stalks the prey that was once his family.

A young wife and mother is abused by her husband and keeps the secret from her friends and family.

An American woman, trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutish husband, must find a way to escape with her daughter as well.

When the young, attractive Joe Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell at drama school, he befriends the kindred spirit and they start an affair. As Orton becomes more comfortable with his sexuality and starts to find success with his writing, Halliwell becomes increasingly alienated and jealous, ultimately tapping into a dangerous rage.

A young Polynesian woman trapped in the throes of an abusive relationship gets revenge by burning down her boyfriend's home. Fearing retaliation, she flees into the mountains of Kauai, Hawaii, where she discovers a mythical creature that guides her back to her ancestral roots.

This movie shows another side to spousal abuse that not too many people thought is possible--the husband being abused and the wife the abuser.

A young Brooklyn boy witnesses the brutal murder of his mother and grows up obsessed with finding her killer. Thus begins his life as a quiet, straight-A student by day and a self-appointed hero at night. But what is a real hero? And who decides what is right or wrong? As the boundaries blur, Sean's dual life wears on his psyche and his two worlds careen dangerously close to colliding. Like a graphic novel you can't put down, Boy Wonder challenges morality, distorting perceptions of what is right and what is justified, as it races to its shocking conclusion.

This sequel to Flowers in the Attic picks up 10 years after Cathy, Chris and Carrie managed to escape Foxworth Hall.

David and Monty, estranged half-brothers, train in mixed martial arts to earn a livelihood. However, things change when the two are forced to compete against each other in the final tournament.

Lonely widow Joyce rents out a room in her house and becomes dangerously obsessed with one of her guests.

A young grandmother in a small Pennsylvania town raises her daughter's child after the girl disappears. All the while, a desperate search for her continues.

When Billie finds herself reliving different versions of the same first date, she must break out of a series of loops created by her manipulative ex-girlfriend.

Based upon Tyler Perry's acclaimed stage production, Madea's Family Reunion continues the adventures of Southern matriarch Madea. She has just been court ordered to be in charge of Nikki, a rebellious runaway, her nieces, Lisa and Vanessa, are suffering relationship trouble, and through it all, she has to organize her family reunion.

When June Buckridge arrives at her London flat and announces 'They are going to murder me', her long-time lover and doll-cuddling flat mate Alice 'Childie' McNaught realizes that things are going to change. For June is referring to her character 'Sister George', a lovable nurse she portrays in a popular daytime serial. To make matters worse, the widowed executive at the BBC responsible for the decision to kill off Sister George - Mercy Croft is also a predatory lesbian who is after Childie and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

Troubled divorcee Mary Kee is tormented by a series of sinister phone calls from a mysterious woman. When the stranger reveals she's calling from the past, Mary tries to break off contact. But the caller doesn't like being ignored, and looks for revenge in a unique and terrifying way...

Hotshot real estate salesman Daryl has a bad cocaine habit. After embezzling his company's money, he wakes up next to a girl who overdosed. To hide from the police, he checks into a rehabilitation program guaranteeing anonymity. Under the mentorship of counselor Craig, Daryl accepts that he has a substance abuse problem. As he falls in love with fellow patient Charlie, Daryl begins committing to a newly sober life.

Musical prodigy, Sparkle struggles to become a star while overcoming issues that are tearing her family apart. From an affluent Detroit area and daughter to a single mother, she tries to balance a new romance with music manager Stix while dealing with the unexpected challenges her new life will bring as she and her two sisters strive to become a dynamic singing group during the Motown-era.

A woman who leaves an abusive relationship to begin a new life in a new city, where she forms an unlikely and ironic relationship with a suicidal hit man (unbeknownst to her). Enter a worn, alcoholic detective to form the third party in a very unusual triangle as this story begins to unfold.

A woman attracts the attention of a psychotic former Army interrogator and an emotionally fragile young man caring for his ailing mother.

Michael and Madison Roland planned to spend the rest of their lives together, but Michael's controlling ways turn their perfect marriage into an abusive roller-coaster ride that no woman could survive. With the help of her best friend, Madison fakes her death to escape and start a new life — but soon realizes it's impossible to outwit her obsessive husband.

A woman's carefully constructed life is upended when an unwelcome shadow from her past returns, forcing her to confront the monster she's evaded for two decades.