'Black Panther' is mainly comprised of black actors
During an episode of the 'Oprah Winfrey Show' in 1986, the legendary talk show host revealed that between the ages of 9 and 14 she was molested by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend.
The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul admits that music helped her rise above her circumstances. Blige told the Hollywood Reporter that music helped her "fly away" from all the negative situations in her life.
The rapper/actress revealed in an interview with Essence magazine in 2009 that she was molested by a babysitter when she was five years old.
The rapper/dancer was sexually abused at only 8 years old by her 16-year-old cousin.
She revealed the details of the traumatic event during an interview on VH1's show 'Behind the Music.'
Carlos Santana was a victim of childhood sexual abuse. Santana went public with his experience to help other victims.
Santana has openly spoken against victim-blaming. He told the Rolling Stone, "The mind has a very insidious way of making you feel guilty: You're the guilty party, shame on you, you're the one who brought this on yourself."
During a United Nations event in 2004 about violence against women, Hatcher said in tears, "Until violence against women is not a part of any woman's story, silence will not be a part of mine."
Tyson said that the man "bullied and sexually abused" him, but that after the incident passed he never saw his attacker again.
In 2014, the boxing champion revealed on the Opie Radio Show that a man kidnapped him off of the street when he was only seven years old and raped him.
During a 2014 interview on 'The View,' the actress shared that she hated "hated feeling like a victim." Union decided to sue the franchise in an effort to take her "power back."
Long before the #MeToo movement, this iconic beauty queen was one of the first stars to openly discuss the issue of sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood.
In an Instagram live stream on February 1, US Democratic politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed that she is a survivor of sexual assault. The congresswoman spoke for more than an hour, describing her terrifying experience during the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, and opened up about her trauma as it reminded her of some Republican politicians' efforts to make everyone "move on."
"I'm a survivor of sexual assault, and I haven't told many people that in my life," she said, fighting back tears. "The reason I'm getting emotional in this moment is because these folks who tell us to move on, these are the same tactics of abusers," she said about some GOP lawmakers. "When we go through trauma, trauma compounds on each other," AOC added.
In Oprah and Prince Harry's mental health series 'The Me You Can't See,' Lady Gaga shared the harrowing details of her experience with sexual assault. The 36-year-old star was abused by music producers starting at age 19, forced to have sex against her will. She recalled being dropped off at her parents house, extremely ill after becoming pregnant as a result of the sexual abuse. She shared that she used to suffer inexplicable pain throughout her body that mirrored what she felt during those traumatic incidents, but doctors could find no physical cause.
Lady Gaga even admitted that she went through a psychotic break as recently as 2019, when she won the Oscar for 'A Star Is Born.' She ended her interview on a hopeful note, saying that she has learned how to cope and things are slowly changing.
Simone Biles was front and center in the media during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. When she dropped out citing concerns for her mental health, it reignited the conversation about abuse within the gymnastics world. Biles was one of more than 150 athletes who came forward in 2018 to speak out against Larry Nassar, team doctor for the United States women's national gymnastics team. Nassar had been sexually abusing gymnasts under the guise of medical treatment for more than a decade. Biles was later asked if this experience had anything to do with her withdrawal from the Olympics. She answered, "Now that I think about it, maybe in the back of my head, probably, yes, because there are certain triggers. You don't even know, and I think it could have."
Brooke Shields is one of the biggest stars of all time. She started her career as a model and actress while she was still a child, making her incredibly vulnerable in an industry that rarely looks out for the best interests of young girls. She modeled naked at the age of 10 and was deemed “the world’s youngest sex symbol” at age 12. At 11, she had her first ever kiss on-screen with an adult man in the movie 'Pretty Baby' (1978), in which she played a child prostitute. “Sometimes I’m amazed that I survived any of it," Shields comments in her new documentary titled 'Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.' One of the most horrifying stories Shields shares is that of a sexual assault that occurred shortly after she graduated from Princeton. The young star was looking for work and met an unnamed man for dinner to discuss career opportunities. He invited her to come back to his hotel, promising to call her a cab home from there. Instead, he brought her up to his room where he forced himself upon her. “I just absolutely froze," she recalls. "I thought one ‘no’ should’ve been enough, and I just thought, ‘Stay alive and get out,’ and I just shut it out. God knows I knew how to be disassociated from my body. I’d practiced that.” Shields says that she decided to share her story after all these years in the hope that it will do some good. "I feel as a mother of two young girls that I hope that just by even hearing my incident that I can add myself to becoming an advocate." The two-part documentary is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.
During an interview with Howard Stern, the Queen of Pop opened up about how she was raped by a stranger when she was 19. She was ashamed after the incident occurred and never reported it.
On February 28, Jena Malone decided it was time to open up about her experience with sexual trauma. The 38-year-old actress took to Instagram to share that she was sexually assaulted while filming the 2015 movie 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2' in France. Malone wrote that the unnamed perpetrator was "someone I had worked with," and lamented that the wonderful experience of making that movie is forever tied to such a traumatic event. "I’ve worked very hard to heal and learn [through] restorative justice, how to make peace with the person who violated me and make peace with myself."
Malone finished the post by sending love and encouragement to the other survivors out there, reminding them that the healing process is non-linear. She also invited anyone who needs a safe space to "vent or open uncommunicated spaces within themselves" to reach out to her by DM.
Union reflected on the 30 years that have passed since the traumatic incident and revealed on Instagram that she still struggles with PTSD and anxiety. "As a rape survivor, I have battled PTSD for 30 years. Living with anxiety and panic attacks all these years has never been easy. There’s times the anxiety is so bad it shrinks my life," she wrote.
She implored readers to believe those who open up about their anxiety and not to diminish their experiences, but also reminded us that she doesn't need to be fixed. "I share this as I hope everyone living with anxiety knows they aren’t alone or 'being extra.' I see you, I FEEL you and there is so much love for you."
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women in the US are raped within their lifetime. Being open about trauma is intrinsic to healing, and fortunately many famous survivors are coming forward to share their experiences, and prove that you can not only survive, but also thrive.
Click on to see which inspirational celebrities have opened up about their experience with sexual assault.
When she was working at a Payless ShoeSource at the age of 19, Union was raped at gunpoint. The actress told her story of redemption on 'The View' in 2014, admitting that she "hated feeling like a victim." Noting the politics of the situation, she also made it clear that she was "lucky" to have had the incident happen in an affluent neighborhood, where the police and crisis center were quick and able to respond.
Stars who are sexual abuse survivors
Rising above tragedy
CELEBRITY Survivors
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women in the US are raped within their lifetime. Being open about trauma is intrinsic to healing, and fortunately many famous survivors are coming forward to share their experiences, and prove that you can not only survive, but also thrive.
Click on to see which inspirational celebrities have opened up about their experience with sexual assault.