Abigail Breslin has revealed that she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after she was raped.
The actress, who opened up about her rape for the first time earlier this year, responded to a troll on Instagram yesterday who said that “reported rapes are the only rapes that count”.
Posting a photo of figures from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) with the title, “Out of every 1000 rapes 994 perpetrators will walk free”, Abigail simply wrote “#knowthefacts”.
The Screan Queens star then went on to explain why she didn’t report her rape.
“I didn’t want to view myself as a ‘victim,’ so I suppressed it and pretended that it never happened. Second of all, I was in a relationship with my rapist and feared not being believed.
“I also feared that if my case didn’t lead anywhere, he would still find out and would hurt me even more. Thirdly, I knew how hurt my friends and family would be after finding out, and I didn’t want to put them through that.”
Abigail then revealed that she was diagnosed with PTSD in 2016, and admitted that she still gets nightmares about it.
“I have made a lot of progress since the event occurred, but I won’t pretend it isn’t something I struggle with. I still have flashbacks, I still get nightmares, I still jump when somebody touches me unexpectedly, even if it’s my best friend tapping me on the shoulder,” she added.
“To say that reported rapes are the only rapes that count contributes to the ideology that survivors of unreported rape don’t matter. It’s unfair, untrue, and unhelpful. It’s like if you got a black eye from getting punched in the face, but because you didn’t call the police, you didn’t really get a black eye. Unreported rapes count. Reported rapes count. End of story.”
