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Reese Witherspoon has spoken for the first time about being sexually assaulted by a film director when she was a teenager.
Speaking at the Women in Hollywood event overnight, the 41-year-old revealed she first experienced sexual assault when she was 16, and sadly it wasn’t the only time.
“This has been a really hard week for women in Hollywood, for women all over the world, and a lot of situations and a lot of industries are forced to remember and relive a lot of ugly truths,” she said, referring to the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the countless women that have come forward to reveal sexual abuse at the hands of Weinstein or other powerful men in the industry.
“I have my own experiences that have come back to me very vividly and I find it really hard to sleep, hard to think, hard to communicate a lot of the feelings that I’ve been having about anxiety … the guilt for not speaking up earlier,” she continued.
“[I feel] true disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16 years old, and anger at the agents and the producers who made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment.”
Around the time she was 16 in the early nineties, Reese starred in The Man In The Moon, Wildflower and A Far Off Place.
“I wish that I could tell you that was an isolated incident in my career, but sadly it wasn’t,” the actor-turned-director said.
“I’ve had multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault and I don’t speak about them very often.”
The Big Little Lies star said she felt compelled not to stay silent after so many other women have gone public with their experiences.
“But after hearing all the stories these past few days and hearing these brave women speak up tonight about things that we’re kind of told to sweep under the rug and not to talk about, it’s made me want to speak up and speak up loudly because I actually felt less alone this week than I have ever felt in my entire career.”
Also overnight, America Ferrera revealed she was sexually assaulted by a man when she was nine years old.
The actress shared her experience as part of the #MeToo hashtag millions on social media have used to share stories and show solidarity with sexual abuse victims.
“First time I can remember being sexually assaulted I was nine-years-old,” she wrote on Instagram.
“I told no one and lived with the shame and guilt thinking all along that I, a nine-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,” she continued. “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.”
