Lili Reinhart, Padma Lakshmi, Alyssa Milano and more stars revealed they’d been sexually assaulted as #WhyIDidntReport trended on Twitter amid the controversy over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The hashtag surfaced on Friday, September 21, after President Donald Trump victim-shamed Christine Blasey Ford on Twitter earlier in the day, questioning why the professor didn’t file a police report on her allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers.
People took to Twitter to share their own stories, with the Who’s the Boss alum, 45, writing, “Hey, @realDonaldTrump, Listen the f—k up. I was sexually assaulted twice. Once when I was a teenager. I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell my parents. If any survivor of sexual assault would like to add to this please do so in the replies. #MeToo.”
Hey, @realDonaldTrump, Listen the fuck up.
I was sexually assaulted twice. Once when I was a teenager. I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell me parents.
If any survivor of sexual assault would like to add to this please do so in the replies. #MeToo https://t.co/n0Aymv3vCi
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) September 21, 2018
Riverdale‘s Reinhart, 22, tweeted that she didn’t report her attack “because I didn’t want to lose my job or make people think I was a drama queen.”
Because I didn’t want to lose my job or make people think I was a drama queen. #WhyIDidntReport
— Lili Reinhart (@lilireinhart) September 21, 2018
Ashley Judd, 50, who has been a vocal supporter of the #MeToo movement and accused Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, wrote, “The first time it happened, I was 7. I told the first adults I came upon. They said ‘Oh, he’s a nice old man, that’s not what he meant.’ So when I was raped at 15, I only told my diary. When an adult read it, she accused me of having sex with an adult man.”
#WhyIDidntReport. The first time it happened, I was 7. I told the first adults I came upon. They said “Oh, he’s a nice old man, that’s not what he meant.” So when I was raped at 15, I only told my diary. When an adult read it, she accused me of having sex with an adult man.
— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) September 21, 2018
Mira Sorvino, 50, who has also made allegations against Weinstein, tweeted, “#WhyIDidntReport because the first time I did for a serious sexual assault as a teenager nothing came of it, and later I felt that I wasn’t important enough to make a big deal over. I was wrong.”
#WhyIDidntReport because the first time I did for a serious sexual assault as a teenager nothing came of it, and later I felt that I wasn’t important enough to make a big deal over. I was wrong.
— Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) September 22, 2018
Top Chef host Lakshmi, 48, wrote, “I was 7 the first time I was sexually assaulted. He was a relative of my mom’s second husband. I told my folks and they sent me away.”
I was 7 the first time I was sexually assaulted. He was a relative of my mom’s second husband. I told my folks and they sent me away. #WhyIDidntReport
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) September 21, 2018
“The second time I was 16 years old and a virgin. He was my boyfriend. ‘Date rape’ wasn’t discussed in the 80’s. I was horrified and ashamed,” she added. “The third time I was assaulted I was 23. I thought that no one would believe me, because no one wanted to stand up to him. I had seen the way Anita Hill [who accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991] was treated when she came forward.”
NCIS alum Pauley Perrette, 49, revealed that she was raped at 15 “by a drunk football player at a high school party. I was SURE my dad would shoot him if he knew and then my mom would be alone. I stayed in my room for days and cried to my cat. Didn’t tell my dad until like 20 years later after my rapist died.”
So #WhyIDidntReport I was 15. Raped by a drunk football player at a high school party. I was SURE my dad would shoot him if he knew and then my mom would be alone. I stayed in my room for days and cried to my cat. Didn't tell dad until like 20 years later after my rapist died.
— Pauley Perrette (@PauleyP) September 22, 2018
Ford, 51, alleges that Kavanaugh, 53, assaulted her during a high school party in the early 1980s. She told The Washington Post on September 16 that he pinned her to a bed, groped her and attempted to remove her clothing. She claims he covered her mouth with his hand to silence her when she screamed.
“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” Ford told The Post. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”
Kavanaugh said in a statement that he “categorically and unequivocally” denied the allegations.
Trump told reporters earlier this week that it was “very hard for me to imagine that anything happened.”
The professor is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee to “provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual misconduct next week,” according to a statement from her lawyers. Ford previously said she wanted an FBI investigation before testifying, and celebrities have called for first daughter and White House senior advisor Ivanka Trump to support Ford and demand that the bureau conduct an investigation into her allegations.
