The 'Westworld' star has opened up about her troubled past, including two incidences of sexual assault.
Evan Rachel Wood has revealed that she was sexually assaulted twice and hopes other victims of abuse will not stay silent.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the Westworld star shares how she experienced "physical, psychological, sexual," abuse in the past.
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“Yes, I’ve been raped. By a significant other while we were together,” the 29-year-old actress told the magazine in an email sent following the interview, which she then posted on Twitter. “And on a separate occasion, by the owner of a bar. The first time I was I unsure that if it was done by a partner it was in fact rape, until too late. And the second time, I thought it was my fault and that I should have fought back more, but I was scared.”
While Woods says the ordeal “still affects” her, she was reluctant to go public with her story because she didn’t want to be the center of a sob story. However, she now believes it’s crucial that victims of abuse aren’t shamed into silence.
“I will not be ashamed. I will also not project some false idea of being completely over it because ‘I am so strong,’” she writes. “I don’t believe we live in a time where people can stay silent any longer. Not given the state our world is in with its blatant bigotry and sexism.”
“I am alive. I am happy. I am strong. But I am still not ok,” she continues. “It’s important for survivors to own that, and that the pressure to just get over it already, should be lifted. It will remind people of that damage that has been done and how the trauma of a few minutes can turn into a lifetime of fighting for yourself.”
The star adds that she believes being bisexual may have led to the alleged attacks.
“Bisexuality is worthy of eye rolls,” she says, in the interview. “And I didn't realize how damaging that was until I tried to have healthy relationships as an adult and realized that there was still all this shame and conditioning and stigma around my sexuality that was really affecting the way I related to people. I think I was taken advantage of because someone knew there was something about me that they could exploit."
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Wood says going public with her sexuality has helped matters, as has her 3-year-old son (with actor and ex-husband, Jamie Bell), who “got me out of my own sh*t. I just couldn't be what I was not."
The actress also gets candid about having her parents divorce when she was nine, attempting to end her life at 22 -- “the best-worst thing that ever happened ‘cause it did not work”-- and being thrust into the spotlight while dating singer Marilyn Manson.
Wood says the relationship led to people “[calling] me a whore when I walked down the street,” but she was drawn to the “danger” of the romance.
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"I met somebody that promised freedom and expression and no judgments," she explains. “And I was craving danger and excitement. I looked at my mother and said, 'Mom, I'm gonna get on this tour bus for eight months and see the world and have a crazy journey and find myself, and if people aren't OK with that, I'm sorry, but I can't live my life for other people.'”
See the actress talk more about her son in the video below.