“I would witness dual sides of his personality. One would be full of love and laughter as a family man and the other would be animalistic and cruel. I felt like his prey. An outsider greatly misunderstood. I began to question whether or not it was my fault and if I’d somehow given him the wrong impression. I was sworn to secrecy.”

‘DAD! STOOOOPPPP!’ I screamed. I could no longer rationalize his strange and uncomfortable behavior.’: Sexual assault survivor bravely speaks up after 20 years, urges ‘you are not your story’

‘In truth, I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to be (just) me anymore. I have found such comfort and safety in being a mother.’
“I was married young. I was pregnant soon after. I followed my husband’s career and livelihood. And all I keep hearing is: ‘Well, what are you going to make of this, Wendy?'”

‘I have seen a lot of talk lately about how, as a mom of boys, I should be scared for the future of my sons.’
“If someone says ‘stop’ or ‘no,’ that means NOT CONSENSUAL. Son, is that clear?”

‘This is a little girl who was sexually abused. She grew up to be a woman. She is me.’
“She struggled to be intimate. She struggled with depression and anxiety. With pelvic pain. She flinched from touch, but so desperately wanted to give it all.”

‘I was just raped thousands of miles away from home as a 15-year-old, and I was scared.’
“I kept quiet about the incident out of sheer terror. Raising a girl is so terrifying when you’ve seen the ugliest parts of what being a girl has to offer at times.”

‘We had to accept the severity of what was done by her ex. A DHS worker pointed out her behavior. The walls she built cracked.’: Family struggles to overcome epilepsy, Crohn’s disease and sexual assault
”’I was supposed to be the sick one,’ I thought. When I sat at a grocery store with Caitlin seizing on the floor, and the 2-year-old in the cart, we truly had to come to grips with our limitations.”

‘You kicked me. You hit me. You controlled me. You isolated me. You criticized me. You bullied me. You blamed me. You made me feel like it was all my fault. I believed you.’
“I am not afraid of you anymore. I am a domestic abuse and sexual assault/rape survivor, NOT a victim, and I am not ashamed.”

‘I can’t take it anymore. The school shootings. The political divide. The border.’ Fed up mom’s advice on the ONE THING to make it better
“I don’t have all of the answers. But I do have this. I do have this one thing to offer.”

‘Come on, why are you doing this?’ I wasn’t intoxicated, but I just couldn’t fight it. I was paralyzed from shock.’: Sexual assault survivor finally accepts mental illnesses in wake of trauma, no longer ‘ashamed’
“I did the unspeakable. Madness took over and I pushed my mom. I always knew there was something wrong with me, but when I lost control on her it became crystal clear. When the police officer asked, ‘What happened?’ I replied, ‘I need help.’ Little did I know that asking and getting help would change everything. I chose love and never looked back.”