Because rapists need to be stopped before they harm more people:
NEW YORK –
Teri Hatcher, one of the stars of ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” says in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair that her uncle sexually molested her 35 years ago.The 41-year-old actress says she learned in 2002 that a 14-year-old victim of her uncle had committed suicide. Concerned that he would escape charges of molestation, Hatcher approached the prosecutors.
“This is something I’ve tried to hide my whole life,” Hatcher tells the magazine, which hits newsstands Friday with the actress on the cover.
“I was just blown away by this young girl’s pain,” she says. “I thought, boy, that’s really close to being me. Any day of the week I could feel that sort of pain. I haven’t tried to kill myself, but I’ve certainly thought about it.”
After Hatcher came forward, her uncle, Richard Hayes Stone, then 64-years-old, pleaded guilty to four counts of child molestation in the case of the 14-year-old victim and received 14 years in prison. […]
Hatcher said she was 5-years-old living in Sunnyvale, Calif., with her family when Stone would manipulate situations to get him and Hatcher alone in his car so he could take advantage of her.
“These are haunting things that I’ve remembered all my life,” she says. […]
As many victims of sexual abuse do, Hatcher says she had complicated feelings about the abuse. She didn’t see her uncle after she was 8- or 9-years-old, and never told her parents, though she thinks they suspected.
“I think their way of dealing with things is denial and guilt,” she says. “Nobody wanted to talk about it. But all I did was blame myself.”
All I can add to this story is a big thank you to Terri Hatcher. I’m not someone who watches Desperate Housewives, but, like the many brave women here at Booman Tribune who have been telling their stories in such heart breaking detail over the last several days, she’s now a hero in my book.