Lucy Hale is opening up about the #MeToo movement after implying via Twitter that she was sexually assaulted.
“To keep it somewhat vague… I think along with a lot of other people we’ve all had our experiences like that and until it’s happened to you, you kind of don’t really understand how it can affect you and everyone around you and I just feel very honored to be around a lot of powerful women that are speaking up about it and I think that’s where the change starts is when people start talking because you never know who’s listening or whose life you can impact,” the Life Sentence star, 28, exclusively told Us Weekly in West Hollywood on Monday, January 22. “You know, you see the change happening it’s really an exciting time even though it started from dark times for people, I think the pay off will be extraordinary.”
When asked if it was hard to come forward about her story, Hale replied, “No because I think anytime I talk about something it comes from a real place of truth and comes straight from the heart.”
The Pretty Little Liars alum hinted that she may have experienced sexual assault in a since-deleted message on Thursday, January 18.
“I deleted it from Instagram. But this needs to be heard,” Hale tweeted at the time, along with a screenshot of her cryptic statement. “I never understood sexual assault until tonight. I always sympathized, but never felt the pain of it until right now,” she wrote in the message. “My dignity and pride was broken. I am completely at a loss of words.”
Hale added that she was going to use her experience to try and help others, writing: “I feel for anyone that has felt this pain that I feel right now. But I promise. I will not let a moment go by that I don’t try to make a difference.”
