ACTOR AnnaLynne McCord was raped as a teenager and now she’s made it her mission to use her platform and do something about it.
Best known for her roles on 90210 and Nip/Tuck, the actress spoke to BBC about her experience with sexual assault.
“I was sexually assaulted when I was 18 years old and I was not the typical scenario,” she said.
“I was not the one seeking any kind of solace or consolation from what happened. I pretended like it didn’t occur and I went on with my life.”
McCord also spoke about breaking the myths surrounding where and when women typically get raped.
“I left home when I was 15 years old, I grew up a pastor’s daughter and then went wild in New York, dancing on tables, wearing little mini skirts.”
Despite that, “I was never raped in the scenarios that they tell you you’re gonna be raped in,” she said.
The now 29-year-old actor revealed she was instead raped by a friend.
“I was in my own home and I’d let a friend come stay at my place because he needed to crash.
“I woke up and my southern hospitality, if you even want to call it that, was being greatly taken advantage of.
“I woke up and he was inside me,” she said.
It was after the rape that McCord’s life took a dark turn.
“I became very dark, suicidal, self-harming, cutting up my arms,” she said.
While working on 90210, McCord was approached by producers with a potential storyline, one that would focus on her character experiencing rape.
“I said, ‘yes this is such an important topic’, I fight human trafficking, work with survivors of consistent rape every day, all day so it was something I was really excited to tackle.”
It wasn’t until McCord had shot “months and months of episodes and was in the second season” of her character’s experience with rape when “what happened to me all came back in a flash”.
“My whole body shut down, for 10 years I thought it was my fault, I didn’t fight back.”
Despite McCord’s harrowing sexual assault, the actress has been very vocal about what she went through and continues to raise awareness.
Most recently, she has been working with the Somaly Mam Foundation which is dedicated to ending slavery and empowering its survivors.
Online Source: www.news.com.au
