Updated

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) New York Giants placekicker Josh Brown has issued a statement in which he admits abusing his former wife but he insists he never hit her.

Brown issued the statement to ESPN on Tuesday. Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon confirmed that the statement was from Brown, who was placed on the NFL commissioner's exempt list last week after authorities released emails and personal journals in which Brown admits to abusing his former wife.

In his statement, Brown says he has taken measures to get help so that he can ''be the voice of change, not a statistic.''

He says: ''It is important to share that I never struck my wife, and never would. Abuse takes many forms, and is not a gray area.''

Brown's former wife alleged that he shoved her into a mirror, breaking it, and that he shoved a chair into her leg, bruising it, according to a report released last week by the King County Sheriff's Office in the state of Washington.

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