“Fuller House” star Jodie Sweetin spoke out about being sexually assaulted in the past and expressed her support for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford amid her allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Sweetin, 36, posted a picture on Instagram of herself in a camouflage jacket, which read: “What Doesn’t Kill You F---s You Up Mentally.”
The photo went along with a caption supporting Ford.
“I stand with her. I AM her. I was the girl who never reported because I blamed myself. I was the woman who never reported because I didn’t want to go through the pain and ridicule,” she wrote.
“The same sort of pain that I witnessed Dr Christine Blasey Ford walk through today," she said, referring to Thursday's testimony of Ford before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"What we saw today is about a much bigger issue of survivors of sexual assault being persecuted, judged and re-traumatized when they do come forward,” she added.
Sweetin, a mother of two girls, said it was “easier to stay quiet” because it was better than being ridiculed.
“And as we grew older and it happened again, we had been trained to remain silent. We had learned the lesson that no one will believe us. That even if someone DOES, it holds no consequence. We had watched other women come forward, only to be told ‘there were no witnesses, so it’s your word against his’, knowing that ‘his’ story is always more believed than ‘hers,’ Sweetin wrote.
"What we saw today is about a much bigger issue of survivors of sexual assault being persecuted, judged and re-traumatized when they do come forward."
The actress said for her the testimony wasn’t “about politics,” but more about avoiding the trauma Ford experienced.
“I will not sit still. I will not stay quiet. Although I may never be as brave or as unflinching in the face of such an inquisition as she was today, it has given me hope. That maybe, just maybe, female survivors of sexual assault may be heard. Even if our voice is barely above a whisper,” she wrote.
Sweetin is not the only actress to come forward and reveal harrowing details of their own sexual assault experiences.
Busy Philipps revealed she was raped when she was just 14.
“This is me at 14. The age I was raped. It's taken me 25 years to say those words. I wrote about it in my book. I finally told my parents and sister about it 4 months ago. Today is the day we are silent no more. All of us. I'm scared to post this,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Alyssa Milano, Padma Lakshmi and Lili Reinhart also revealed their own experiences leading up to Thursday’s hearing.