Lucy Hale has admitted she feels "honoured" to be surrounded by "powerful women".
Lucy Hale
The former 'Pretty Little Liars' actress alluded to being sexually assaulted earlier this week in a post on social media which she has since deleted, and she has now admitted she wanted to keep the details of her experience "vague", but feels empowered by those around her who are speaking up.
She said: "To keep it somewhat vague ... I think along with a lot of other people we've all had our experiences like that and until it's happened to you, you kind of don't really understand how it can affect you and everyone around you and I just feel very honoured to be around a lot of powerful women that are speaking up about it and I think that's where the change starts. When people start talking, because you never know who's listening or whose life you can impact."
The 28-year-old actress believes Hollywood is entering an "exciting time" where women are free to speak up about alleged misconduct they have faced, and she hopes the conversation will spark "change".
Speaking to Us Weekly magazine she added: "You know, you see the change happening it's really an exciting time even though it started from dark times for people, I think the pay off will be extraordinary."
It comes after the brunette beauty recently admitted she was "grateful" that women and men have started speaking up about what they have suffered in a bid to make the topic less taboo.
She said: "I feel grateful to have people that I look up to that are speaking up about things. Not just women - I think men have sometimes suffered the same way that women have. And as long as a conversation is going or a conversation has started, which it has, that's the best thing you could ever ask for because that makes people feel not alone. I think if powerful people can make a difference by speaking up, which they are, that will trickle down hopefully."
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