America Ferrera suffered a "super traumatic" reaction after going public with her experience of sexual assault.
America Ferrera suffered a painful backlash to her sexual assault revelation
The 'Ugly Betty' star joined the 'Me Too' movement back in 2017 when she recounted her harrowing tale of being molested when she was nine years old, but she wasn't prepared for backlash from people close to her who made her feel "really ashamed" for speaking out.
Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar UK, she explained: "I was so moved by the women who were speaking out, realising how much courage they had. [Telling my story] felt like an act of solidarity. It felt as though women I knew and women I didn’t were sticking their necks out in a moment that was historic. I wanted to stand with them and my friends.
"It was the first time I had ever mentioned it."
America, 39, went on to add: "I got phone calls from very close people in my life telling me that I’d done the wrong thing, making me feel really ashamed. They were not happy. It was super traumatic. The hardest part was experiencing just how threatening it was to people. And it was so validating of why I had never said anything about it since I was nine years old."
The 'Barbie' actress joined a number of women speaking out about their own experiences as part of the 'Me Too' movement which emerged after a number of allegations were made against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
America described what happened to her in a candid post on Instagram, writing: "First time I can remember being sexually assaulted I was 9 years old. I told no one and lived with the shame and guilt thinking all along that I, a 9 year old child, was somehow responsible for the actions of a grown man.
"I had to see this man on a daily basis for years to come. He would smile at me and wave, and I would hurry past him, my blood running cold, my guts carrying the burden of what only he and I knew - that he expected me to shut my mouth and smile back.”
She concluded her post by adding: "Ladies, let’s end this silence so the next generation of girls won’t have to live with this bulls***."
Read the interview in full at www.harpersbazaar.com/uk.
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