Actress Ashley Judd says when she was raped at 15, she only told her diary.
Celebrities have come together to share their stories of sexual assault and the struggle many victims face in reporting such crimes.
“#WhyIDidntReport. The first time it happened, I was 7. I told the first adults I came upon,” Judd tweeted. “They said ‘Oh, he’s a nice old man, that’s not what he meant.’ So when I was raped at 15, I only told my diary. When an adult read it, she accused me of having sex with an adult man.”
On Friday, the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport began trending on Twitter after President Donald Trump shared his thoughts on the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court of the United States nominee Brett Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford.
In an article last week, Ford alleged that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while they were in high school, coming forward as the author of an anonymous letter penned earlier this summer. Kavanaugh has denied the accusations.
Soon after, actress Alyssa Milano, who was also part of the #MeToo movement, tweeted: “Hey, Donald Trump, listen the [expletive] up. I was sexually assaulted twice. Once when I was a teenager. I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell me parents.”
“If any survivor of sexual assault would like to add to this please do so in the replies. #MeToo.”
Riverdale star Lili Reinhart also took part in the #WhyIDidntReport movement, tweeting: “Because I didn’t want to lose my job or make people think I was a drama queen. #WhyIDidntReport.”