Ray Rice publicly apologized to his wife Thursday, answering questions from the media for the first time since the assault charge that led to his arrest in February.
Rice, who allegedly hit his then-fiancée in an Atlantic City elevator, spoke in front of his now-wife, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and dozens of teammates at the team’s facility to address what he called a “one-time” incident and “the biggest mistake of [my] life.”
Rice had previously spoken about the incident in May in a highly criticized prepared statement he read off his cellphone, in which he did not apologize to his wife, Janay.
“My actions that night were totally inexcusable,” Rice said. “That night … I just replay over and over in my head. That’s not me. My actions were inexcusable. That’s something I have to live with the rest of my life.
“The incident itself, I’m trying to move forward. What happened that night is a huge mistake on my behalf. I take full responsibility.”
The 27-year-old Ravens running back was charged with felony aggravated assault, but avoided jail time by entering a diversionary program that could get the charge expunged from his record. Rice, who could not discuss specifics of the case because he is in a probationary period, is currently attending counseling with his wife, whom he described as “an angel.” who “can do no wrong.”
“Counseling is not one of the things you go to and things just automatically get better. What counseling has done for me is allow me to interact with my inner self, to let me know where I was,” Rice said. “Scoring touchdowns and doing what I do as an NFL player, it’s a very big job, but it’s very small in terms of being a parent and being a fulfilled husband.”
Rice said he plans to speak out against domestic violence at the appropriate time, along with his wife.
“My sincerest apologies go out to anybody who has been through anything that I’ve been through,” Rice said. “Those are who my apologies go out to — anybody who has been through any kind of domestic violence. It has no place in society, in this world, especially man on women. I have to own my actions and I have to live with them for the rest of my life.”
Rice, a New Rochelle native and former Rutgers star, was particularly concerned about his 2-year-old daughter, Rayven, learning about the incident when she gets older.
“The pain I’m talking about living with is that, is waking up every day. … I have a little girl who’s very smart, very intelligent,” Rice said. “And one day she’s gonna know the power of Google. And we have to explain that to her — what happened that night. And I know that’s not who I am as a man.
“That’s not who my mom raised me to be. Anybody knows me, they know I was raised by a single parent and that was my mother. And sitting here today and [to] replay the things my mom raised me to be. I let her down, I let my wife down, I let my daughter down. … I let so many people down because of 30 seconds of my life that I know I can’t take back.”
The three-time Pro Bowler was suspended by commissioner Roger Goodell for the first two games of the regular season, a light disciplinary measure when compared with past punishments given out by the league.
“I don’t have any control over what [the] punishment was,” Rice said. “I’m being punished on a daily basis.”