Busy PhilippsandEllen DeGeneresare bravely speaking their truth about their experiences with sexual abuse.
The actress, who shares her story in her memoir,This Will Only Hurt A Little, out Oct. 16, said she struggled with her secret for years.
“We can do better for our kids and the next generation, and we will,” she said. “I told my parents and my older sister five months ago, when the book was finished and I had come to peace that I was going to speak my truth. I said, ‘But Mom, I just want you to know’ — because she felt like she had failed me and didn’t protect me. And I understand that, being a mother, but I was like, ‘Mom, you are really the hero of my book.’ She really is. She was there for me. Without her, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you.”
Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.
DeGeneres, in turn, had a message for young men and women who may be going through what she and Philipps experienced.
“I was 15 and I had something happen to me,” she recalled. “You just get so angry when someone doesn’t believe you, or [asks], ‘Why did you wait so long?’ It’s because we’re girls and we’re taught not to say anything and go along with it.”
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The comedian insisted, “This conversation needs to happen more. And people need to teach your children to speak up and don’t ever keep something in and don’t ever be ashamed and think that it’s your problem or your fault.”
Philipps’ shared her story last week alongside a yearbook photo of herself she posted on Instagram.
“This is me at 14. The age I was raped,” she wrote. “It’s taken me 25 years to say those words. I wrote about it in my book. I finally told my parents and sister about it 4 months ago. Today is the day we are silent no more. All of us. I’m scared to post this. I can’t imagine what Dr. Ford is feeling right now.”
Philipps is married to producer Marc Silverstein and is the mother of two daughters:Pearl, 5, andBirdie Leigh, 10.
source: people.com
