Ellen DeGeneres Opens Up About Being Sexually Assaulted as a Teenager
Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.
Ellen DeGeneres has shared that she was sexually assaulted by her stepfather.
Through the discuss present host’s interview on David Letterman‘s Netflix sequence, My Subsequent Visitor Wants No Introduction, DeGeneres says that she was assaulted by her stepfather when she was about 15 or 16. On the episode, airing Might 31, DeGeneres talks about her mom, Betty DeGeneres, remarrying a “a really unhealthy man” who harm her.
“That is one other factor that, you recognize, I am indignant at myself as a result of….I used to be too weak to face up—I used to be 15 or 16 and…I imply, it is a actually horrible, horrible story and the one cause I am really gonna go into element about it’s as a result of I would like different ladies to not, you recognize, ever let somebody try this,” DeGeneres tells Letterman.
“My mom had had breast most cancers proper after they received married,” the 61-year-old star continues. “So she had a breast eliminated, they usually had a really, very sexual relationship, which was additionally very uncomfortable for me. And he instructed me when she was out of city that he’d felt a lump in her breast and wanted to really feel my breasts as a result of he did not wish to upset her, however he wanted to really feel mine.”
“Once more, ‘trigger I did not find out about our bodies, I do not know that breasts are all completely different and…anyway, he satisfied me that he must really feel my breasts after which he tries to do it once more one other time, after which one other time, he tried to interrupt my door down, and I kicked the window out and ran ‘trigger I knew it was gonna do–it was gonna go extra to one thing,” she recollects. “And I did not wish to inform my mom, ‘trigger I used to be defending her and I knew that that will smash her happiness.”
I’m an enormous fan of David @Letterman. It was an honor to be on his @Netflix present, though he didn’t introduce me. pic.twitter.com/nWv9Adc4OH
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) Might 28, 2019
DeGeneres says her mom “was proud of him” though he “was a horrible man, and I ought to by no means have protected her.”
“I ought to have protected myself,” DeGeneres tells Letterman. “And I did not inform her for a couple of years, after which I instructed her. After which she did not consider me. After which she stayed with him for 18 extra years. And at last left him as a result of he’d modified the story so many occasions.”
The Emmy winner explains that her mom did confront her stepfather “however he mentioned I used to be mendacity.”
“After which she…stayed with him,” DeGeneres says. “So, that made me actually indignant.”
“What most girls do is, we simply do not feel like we have now a voice,” DeGeneres says. “And that is the one cause that that is the primary time I’ve ever talked about this to anybody aside from my buddies. We simply do not feel like we’re worthy, or we’re scared to have a voice and we’re scared to say ‘no.'”
“That first time, he actually satisfied me that he did not wish to upset her, and he actually felt one other lump, and he actually would similar to…after which once I did not let him the following time, you recognize, it simply…he simply saved taunting me and pretending like he was coming at me on a regular basis,” she shares. “That is the one cause I feel it is vital to speak about it as a result of there’s so many younger ladies, and it does not matter how previous you’re, and once I see folks talking out, particularly now, it angers me when victims aren’t believed as a result of we simply do not make stuff up. And I like males, however there are such a lot of males that get away with a lot. It’s simply time for us to have a voice. It is time for us to have energy.”
The second season of My Subsequent Visitor Wants No Introduction With David Letterman premieres Friday, Might 31, on Netflix.
At no cost, confidential assist, name the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or go to rainn.org.