Jana Kramer was nearly killed by first husband

Singer/actress Jana Kramer was almost killed by her first husband in 2006.

The former One Tree Hill star has opened up about the domestic abuse she suffered at the hands of her first husband Michael Gambino, who she married in Las Vegas in 2004 after two weeks of dating.

Their relationship soon took a turn for the worse when Gambino, who was seventeen years older, began abusing her and she hid the marks with make-up and kept it a secret from her friends and family.

"He’d come home at 3 o’clock in the morning and pick me up out of bed, throw me onto the ground and start yelling and hitting,” she tells People magazine. “Then the next morning he’d be like, ‘Hey, baby,’ as if nothing had happened.

“He’d kick me out of the house, I’d sleep in the car and then that next morning I’d be with him in bed again.... My self-confidence went down each time he was abusive.”

Matters escalated until August, 2005, when her left her bleeding outside their Los Angeles house after choking her unconscious. Gambino was found guilty of attempted murder and sent to prison for six years. He was released in 2010 but committed suicide two years later.

Recalling the incident, Jana says, “I remember praying that night, ‘Please, just take me away, I don’t want to be here anymore.'"

Jana decided to share her story because she hopes it will help others come forward.

She has since been married to actor Johnathon Schaech and American footballer Mike Caussin, who she recently separated from. They have a nine-month-old daughter named Jolie.