Yahoo Movies America Ferrera Recounts Her Sexual Assault: ‘I Was 9 Years Old’
As part of the “Me Too” social media movement, which began in response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal and sees women sharing their sexual harassment experiences via social media, America Ferrera posted on Instagram stating she was sexually assaulted when she was nine years old.
“First time I can remember being sexually assaulted I was 9 years old,” the actress wrote. “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.”
Ferrera continued, “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 & I knew- that he expected me to shut my mouth and smile back.”
She ended the post with a call to action. “Ladies, let’s end this silence so the next generation of girls won’t have to live with this bulls—.”
Alyssa Milano sparked the movement after tweeting a note that read, “Suggested by a friend: ‘If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote “me too” as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.'”
Numerous women have come out in recent weeks with allegations of sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein, although claims have not been limited to the mogul. Björk recently shared that she was harassed while working on one of her two films, and Roy Price was recently put on leave from Amazon after Isa Hackett came forward with allegations against the executive.
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