Actress Amber Tamblyn has chosen to share her sexual assault story in light of the release of the infamous video of Donald Trump’s 2005 remarks, wherein he boasts about groping and kissing women.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants star posted a picture of Donald Trump kissing Miss Universe Olivia Culpo on her Instagram account and placed her sexual assault story on the caption.
Amber, who is happily married to comedian David Cross, opened up and told her story by saying that she was able to share it with Cross’s love and support.
“A very long time ago I ended a long emotionally and physically abusive relationship with a man I had been with for some time,” she wrote. “One night I was at a show with a couple girlfriends in Hollywood, listening to a DJ we all loved. I knew there was a chance my ex could show up, but I felt protected with my girls around me.”
Amber then got into the crux of the story quickly, detailing that it happened in a public place with her friends around her.
“I will tell you that my ex did show up, and came up to me in the crowd. He’s a big guy, taller than me. The minute he saw me, he picked me up with one hand by my hair and with his other hand, he grabbed me under my skirt by my vagina – my pussy? – and lifted me up off the floor, literally, and carried me, like something he owned, like a piece of trash, out of the club.”
Luckily, though, her friends did come after the guy, and her ex’s brothers intervened, but, of course, Amber was shaken.
She pointed out what compelled her to tell her tale to the public.
“That part of my body, which the current Presidential Nominee of the United States Donald Trump recently described as something he’d like to grab a woman by, was bruised from my ex-boyfriend’s violence for at least the next week. I had a hard time wearing jeans. I couldn’t sleep without a pillow between my legs to create space.”
She revealed that it was not a tale that she could easily tell — that not even her parents knew about it.
“To this day I remember that moment. I remember the shame. I am afraid my mom will read this post. I’m even more afraid that my father could ever know this story. That it would break his heart. I couldn’t take that. But you understand, don’t you? I needed to tell a story.”
Speaking out about your own sexual assault like Amber did is never easy, and that is all right. How it affects a person and how they deal with it is their own concern. It takes a lot of courage for them to open up about that topic, whether to just one person or a crowd.
Just to be clear, though, if you are a sexual assault victim, it does not mean there is anything wrong with you if you chose silence. One traumatic experience in your life does not define you, and every person deals with it their own way.