AnnaLynne McCord has revealed that she was sexually assaulted at the age of 18. The 90210 actress detailed the assault and the aftermath in an essay she wrote for the July 2014 issue of Cosmopolitan.
In the piece, the 26-year-old recalls her 90210 character Naomi being raped by someone she knew. While filming one scene, she broke down crying in front of her castmates and crew. However, they had no idea the real reason behind her emotional display.
McCord also opens up about her childhood living in a religious, very strict and sometimes abusive household. This led her to having unhealthy relationships with men in her early teen years. But, by the time she was 18, she was living in Los Angeles, working on her acting career, and waiting for her then-boyfriend make the same move from New York City.
“One night, a guy friend called. He said he needed a good night’s sleep for a meeting, as he’d been crashing on someone’s couch. I had known him for some time, so I said to come over and I set him up with a clean towel. We sat on the bed and talked for a while, then I fell asleep. When I woke up, he was inside me." she writes.
"At first, I felt so disoriented and numb, I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. I wondered if I had done something to give him the wrong idea. I felt afraid of making him angry. Believe it or not, I didn’t want to offend him. I just wanted it to be over. My childhood had come back to haunt me again: Because of the physical abuse, I didn’t believe there were borders between other people’s bodies and my own. I didn’t believe I had a voice."
McCord asked him to stop, and he did. In the following weeks, she tried to pretend it didn't happen. This led her to a dark place in which she began hurting herself, even while her career was beginning to take off. She finally began telling people close to her that she was raped, and eventually was able to get the help she needed.
"You have a voice. Don’t put yourself in a box. Don’t let the polite lies of society silence you. Honestly, I would endure everything all over again — it has led me to my own revolution."
Read the rest of McCord's brave essay here.
