Laura Whitmore has revealed that she was sexually assaulted in a nightclub last year.
In light of the #MeToo movement, the TV presenter penned an essay for Hot Press magazine, in which she shared her experience.
“I’ve wanted to write this for a while but I’ve been scared. I feel ashamed to say I was scared but I was. I still am. Scared of what people might say, drawing attention to things that upset me, adding fuel to the fire. Still. I need to write this,” Laura wrote.
“What exactly ‘this is’, I don’t know precisely, but I’ll try to elaborate. Last year I was in a club with my friends and I could feel a hand on the back of my leg.”
“Initially I thought it was my boyfriend messing or a mate about to pinch my bottom – but the hand went under my skirt, between my legs, and firmly touched me. As I turned, I saw it was a guy who I did not know. He was laughing.
Laura continued, “I pushed him away and told him to get his ‘fucking hands off me’. It was dark and I was shocked by what had just happened. I couldn’t recognise his face under the strobing lights and, then, he was gone.
“I was a bit tipsy and I was wearing a short skirt. Did I deserve that to happen? I told the manager but what could I do? What was the point?”
“I had my ass slapped when I was 16 in a local club in Ireland and my older cousin Clair, who was with me, pushed the guy against a wall, and made him apologise to me. That single moment comes back to me every time I feel violated in a similar way.”
“No one has the right to do that to anyone. My body. My property. This I know – but sadly, I’ve experienced similar things repeatedly.
“First time I moved to London, someone smacked my ass before I got on to a bus. I’ve had lewd remarks shouted at me. Every time I pass a group of guys alone, my stomach knots and I keep my head down as I worry they’ll shout something and embarrass me.
“I am by no means a weak woman. I consider myself a strong person. Ask anyone who knows me: I’ll fight for what I believe in, and I will always stand up for myself. But sometimes I feel I have to choose my battles and other times I feel – like in that club – what’s the point?
“My heart says now is the time to talk about this, probably because personally I feel stronger and in a better position – and on a wider scale, the truth is that we’ve all had enough,” Laura wrote.
Touching on the Belfast rape trial, Laura told a story about her close friend who was raped by a man of ‘importance and power’.
Laura wrote, “I asked Sara, ‘Why didn’t you go to the police?’ She said, in a completely matter of fact way, ‘Oh come on, who would believe me… and it’s HIM. I can’t go against him.’ I gave her a hug and said I’d support her always one hundred per cent whatever her decision. And my stomach turned as I knew she was right.”
“If she said something, especially now a year later, she WOULD be torn apart, her career in jeopardy and her party girl image heightened even further. All I can say is, I believe her. And for her, that’s enough.”
In the essay, Laura also spoke about being linked to Leonardo DiCaprio, after she was spotted talking to him at a party after the BAFTAs two years ago.
“A picture appeared, on the front pages of papers, that someone had taken on a phone, of me talking to him. And it was accompanied by a headline, basically saying that I had ‘shagged’ this man,” Laura wrote.
“Shagged?? Of course, that’s what women are for, isn’t it? Is my worth to be measured by the men I sleep with – or the men I sleep with in the sordid mind of some sub-editor?
“And being a little unknown TV person, is it presumed that I would jump at the chance of sleeping with an A-lister who I happen to have spoken to? FUCK OFF.”
Further commenting on how women are portrayed in the media, Laura touched on her time on Strictly Come Dancing. During her time on the show, Laura was at the centre of a media storm.
She wrote, “I’m still not ready to talk in-depth about my experience on the show. I love dancing, I topped the leader board twice – but before it even began, I was thrown into the lion’s den and into the middle of someone’s break-up that had nothing to do with me. Once again, I was a ‘rumoured love interest’.”
“I was placed with a dance partner I was extremely uncomfortable with – and in the end I felt broken. I cried every day. And I really was broken, both mentally and physically, by the end.”
“To the outside world I tried to suck it up and smile, and I did that to the best of my ability – but it affected me deeply. My friends and family knew that I was struggling. And they were there for me. The media, however, saw me as blonde bait in a sequined dress.
The presenter continued, “How have we sunk to this situation, where women are routinely reduced, and demeaned, in this way? It is impossible to understand, when everything about it is so wrong, so misguided and so vile.”
“I know that compared to many people I have been fortunate. I love this life and I’ve been blessed with wonderful opportunities – but I’ve had enough of being trivialised and gossiped about. Women are not playthings – either of men or of the media – and should not be treated as such.”
“As women, we need to start celebrating ourselves and asserting our true worth. We are not meat. We are beautiful, complex creatures. We should not have to feel like we are constantly on guard.
“I am lucky to have such strong and inspiring women in my life, as well as men, who appreciate and respect women. I’ve always found it easier to speak up for others – but I now also acknowledge the importance of speaking up for myself.
“It was Maya Angelou who said, ‘Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.’ Amen to that,” she added.
You can read Laura’s full article for Hot Press here. Hot Press added that the fee for Laura’s article is being donated to the Rape Crisis Centre.
If you have been affected by anything in this article, please contact the Rape Crisis Centre on 1800 778 888.Â
