AnnaLynne McCord‘s past sexual assault affected a lot of her relationships — including her up-and-down, high-profile romance with Kellan Lutz. The actress opened up about the Twilight star (and her 90210 costar) while attending the Rape Foundation Annual Brunch in Beverly Hills on Sunday, September 25.
“I could have had some better relationships. I mean, quite frankly, if we’re going to get really honest, I didn’t trust anybody,” McCord, 29, told Us Weekly exclusively. “I was with someone not long after this happened who I was on and off with for a couple years — Kellan Lutz. I was with Kellan Lutz, and I never trusted that he actually loved me. And he loved me so much.”
“We thankfully became friends after when I finally figured all of this out,” she continued. “And I said, ‘I’m so sorry that I was literally an evil B‑I‑T‑C‑H to you.’ But we had our own things. We were very young. But really the biggest issue with our relationship was me. And it was that I didn’t think that he actually loved me. And he really, really — I don’t know if anyone has loved me that much.”
The Nip Tuck alum dated Lutz, 31, from 2008 to 2011. “He was so romantic [when we dated]. He did all this stuff, and I kept thinking, ‘What do you want from me? What are you trying to get out of me?'” she explained. “But that’s what you do when you’re a hurting person, you hurt other people. And when you’re a healed person, you heal other people. And he taught me about love.”
Back in 2012, McCord revealed that she was sexually assaulted by someone she knew. On Saturday, she told Us that she’s since forgiven the attacker.
“When I was hiding in isolation about my story, I was so angry about all the people that didn’t report [about their own]. And the moment that I found freedom, it’s never even come to my brain anymore,” she said. “We put so much focus on the justice of it all, that we forget the heart of the matter. And that’s that [the] person who is broken and destroyed by that act needs to heal and move forward and let go.”
Following her split with Lutz, McCord moved on to Prison Break’s Dominic Purcell. The two split in December 2014 after three years of dating, but recently reunited.