Busy Philipps got choked up while speaking about being sexually assaulted during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday, October 3.
Discussing her new book This Will Only Hurt a Little, Philipps, 39, explained she decided to open up about her experience because she wanted to wanted to give readers insight on tough times she has faced in her life. “Last week with the Kavanaugh hearings, I saw Dr. Ford take a stand and you know, I write about my own experience being raped at age 14. And I was so moved by her bravery and it wasn’t something that I felt like I was ever going to blast out on social media. But when I saw her standing there speaking her truth later after 30 years I was like, it’s been 25 for me and I, I, can do this. I can do this,” she began. “We can all do this and I feel like it’s politically whatever you believe, I feel like it’s a real moment of reckoning for women that we have sort of collectively carried this burden for so long and it’s time to share it.”
“So yeah, it was hard and really scary and what I said in my Instagram post was,” she continued as her Instagram post, where she revealed that she had been raped, came up on the screen. “Okay, I’m a crier, sorry. I just, when I look at like, I have a 10 year old, so when I look at that baby I’m like, see my kid.”
“To be 14 years old, to be that girl, and for that to happen to her, its horrible,” DeGeneres interjected.
“Yeah and it’s sadly the most unoriginal horror isn’t it?” Philipps responded. “Is what we’re finding.”
The Freaks and Geeks alum’s story inspired the talk show host to open up about her own harrowing experience. “I was uh, 15 and I had something happen to me and … when I watched Dr. Ford, anyone that’s had something happen to them, you just get so angry when someone doesn’t believe you or say why did you wait so long?” DeGeneres, 60, revealed. “It’s because we’re girls and we’re taught not to say nothing and go along with it.”
Philipps admitted that she originally wrestled with the idea of publicly sharing her story. “I’ve struggled with it for so long, for so long. And even when I wrote the chapter in my book, I had in my head an escape plan, which was, it doesn’t have to go into the book, you know, if I panic and don’t want to put it out into the world. But I just feel like we’re at this moment in time,” Philipps continued. “And I’m so sorry that happened to you. I’m sorry that it happened to all of us and if we can do better for our kids and the next generations, and we will.”
The Dawson’s Creek alum revealed she had been the victim of sexual assault by sharing an emotional message on social media on September 27. “This is me at 14. The age I was raped,” she wrote alongside a photo of herself as a teenager. “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.”
Many celebrities in Hollywood, including Sarah Hyland, Lili Reinhart and Full House alum Jodie Sweetin, are coming forward with their stories of sexual assault, which have spawned the viral #WhyIDidntReport movement. The hashtag was inspired by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who was questioned by President Donald Trump on why she didn’t report being sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Ford later testified at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Kavanaugh on September 27, inspiring other women to come forward with their own stories.
