Lili Reinhart has revealed that she was “sexually coerced” at the age of 16.
The Riverdale star admitted she “never quite knew” how to explain what happened to her, until she came across a post defining what sexual coercion is.
“Wow it’s crazy that I’m just hearing about this term,” she shared with her Instagram followers on Monday.
“This is what happened to me when I was 16,” the actress admitted.
“I never quite knew how to explain it,” she added.
The post that the actress reshared defined sexual coercion as “the act of using subtle pressure, trickery, emotional force, drugs or alcohol, to force sexual contact with someone against their will and includes persistent attempts to have sexual contact from someone who has already refused.”
Statistics from the Office of Women’s Health show 1 in 6 women have experienced sexual coercion at some point in their lifetime.
Last month, the 23-year-old threatened legal action against a “twisted” anonymous account that circulated a “lie” that she and her cast mates were involved in sexual misconduct.
“I hope and pray that this does not discourage real survivors from speaking out about their experiences,” she shared on Twitter.
“This kind of sick behaviour only harms true survivors. This was incredibly triggering for me and scary because I’ve always supported survivors and believed them.”
“I can’t think of something more twisted than lying about sexual assault. It invalidates the men and women who are brave enough to come forward with the truth.”
“This kind of lie can ruin lives and careers- and I can call it a lie because the person who made the allegations already admitted that the stories were fabricated,” she concluded.
Lili previously opened up about being taken advantage of while working on set with an older male colleague.
“[He was] in a position of power over me and used that said power to try and take advantage of me,” she shared on Tumblr.
“Thinking back on it now, the situation is hard for me to swallow. I was so young and didn’t know how to handle the situation. I just knew how wrong it felt and that I had been violated.”
