The Valley star Janet Caperna shared an honest message with Bravo fans after revealing her past experience with sexual assault.
“I want to be really transparent because today it really hit me that what I shared is going to be out in the world to be judged, talked about and picked apart,” Janet, 36, shared in an Instagram post on Wednesday, July 8. “Something I spent my childhood trying to escape and run away from is now out there on millions of screens to be digested and I fear that the thing I desperately ran away from and didn’t want attached to me will now follow me forever, everywhere I go.”
Even though Janet had “months to prepare” for this experience to go public, she claimed to have “failed” when it came to discussing the experience with family and friends first.
“Many people I know, love and trust will hear my story for the first time on a reality TV show instead of directly from me. And I’m sorry to those that had to hear it this way,” her message continued. “Making my planned round of calls and telling people in person proved more than I could handle. I chickened out. I didn’t want to take a beautiful day and darken it with my trauma.”
Janet wrote that her fear now is how her story “will be shared and talked about” publicly.
“Today it really hit me that this is real and as much as I wish I could stuff the words back in my mouth and deal with the pain that keeping it all in caused me since I was 12 years old, what’s done is done,” she wrote. “I spent today not being able to move.”
Wednesday’s episode of The Valley featured a sitdown between Janet and Lala Kent, discussing Janet’s prior allegation that costar Danny Booko had sexually assaulted Jasmine Goode and her girlfriend, Melissa Marie.
Janet admitted she should have chosen a separate choice of words, before explaining to Lala, 35, that Danny’s apparent actions were triggering because of her own experience.
“When I was in school, I had a situation happen with another boy … put his hands on me,” Janet said during Wednesday’s episode. “And I just pretended like it was some sort of, like, consensual hookup. In reality, it was not.”
Janet claimed that “all the blame” was put on her and she was labeled “a whore.” The boy, she said, “didn’t have to go through any of the pain and trauma.”
About a year ago, Janet’s therapist told her that she experienced a sexual assault.
“I didn’t fight him off or push him away. I just froze and let this thing happen to me,” she added. “It was a lot to process.”
She further detailed her experience in Wednesday’s Instagram post.
“I dealt with what happened that night in the dark under the fluorescent lights of school for years in the form of name calling, relentless bullying and judgment,” Janet explained. “For me, that was worse than the act itself.”
As Janet concluded Wednesday’s Instagram post, she shared a message with fellow sexual assault survivors.
“Please know that on your hardest days, you are not alone. And I can’t help but think how unfortunate that is,” she shared. “That so many people share this pain and experience. That others have days like today where they feel paralyzed and debilitating pain because of another person’s violating actions.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
