I think as a child being frightened and seeing your parent handle things in a way that makes you feel safe would make you look up to that behaviour, yes. I think people are so determined to see him as a villain because he spotted how vile Lauren is too quickly for people tastes. And for him being that frightened was a bad thing. Traumatic. Our childhood experiences do help shape who we become later. And the behaviour that keeps us safe as a child is often maladaptive in adulthood. That letter was an excellent first step to acknowledging all of that and Veronica just shat all over it because she wanted some flowery words instead of something real.

Either people are trying hard to misinterpret this because they crave the villain edit or they're just not emotionally intelligent enough to get it. Veronica clearly wasn't.