Steve Harvey Morning Show's Daily Strawberry Letter

Every day we feature the beloved “Strawberry Letter” franchise that is so popular on “The Steve Harvey Morning Show,” heard nationwide. Send in your letters and Shirley Strawberry will dish out the necessary advice. Today’s topic: No way out Good morning Morning crew:  I am a 23-year-old female. I am in a situation and I need help to find a way out. I have been in a relationship for 11 years. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy! Well, it all happend back when I was 12 years old and in middle school. I saw a cutie who told me he went to the hight school down the street. It wasn’t until I was 18 that he told me his real age. He is 15 Years older than me. Yep, old enough to be my dad. Not only that — he has a 25-year-old child. i dont know how I didn’t know all this in the begining. Well, my problem is, he had become abusive. We have fights all the time. One time I was hospitalized. I have never reported him. I know you’re wondering why I haven’t, well we have kids together — four to be exact. We have a 10-year-old, a 7-year-old, a 5-year-old and a 4-month-old. when I want to do all the things that I know I should do, like call the cops and get a restraining order, I think of them. He has hit me in front of the kids. I keep denying it, saying we were just playing. Please help me. We live together. I stopped working. He pays for everything but everything is in my name. What should I do. Steve, don’t be too hard on me. 

• “Strawberry Letters” are letters sent form fans of the “Steve Harvey Morning Show” and therefore do not express the sentiments of ESSENCE Magazine or ESSENCE.com. As these are fan letters, we have left them as close to their original form as possible.

To submit your own letter to Strawberry Letter, click here. For more information on Steve Harvey Comedy tour dates, click here. For more Strawberry Letters at ESSENCE.com, click here.