EXCLUSIVE: Pauley Perrette Opens Up About Advocating for Stalking Victims: 'It's a Terrible Way to Live'
Pauley Perrette is passionate about standing up for stalking victims -- because she tells ET she is one herself.
ET's Kevin Frazier sat down with the NCIS star ahead of her upcoming 48 Hours special focusing on the victims of stalkers, where she said she's been stalked for the last 13 years and opened up about how it's taken a toll on her life.
EXCLUSIVE: Pauley Perrette Still Can't Believe She Got Away From Her Alleged Attacker Alive
"I've been stalked for 13 years and counting," Perrette said. "You're frightened. It's like you have to be on guard, at all times. And it's exhausting. It's a terrible way to live."
The 47-year-old actress, who did not want to mention the name of her alleged stalker, says that he's cast a shadow over her life -- and that she's often afraid to even leave her house.
"I've described being a stalking victim as the theft of your life. There's nowhere to go, there's nowhere to run," she said. "It's 24 hours a day."
"If I go anywhere, which is rare, I go to places that have like, extreme security… I don't go anywhere alone," she explained. "I live by very strict rules. I never say where I'm going. I only say where I've been after I'm not at that place anymore."
WATCH: Pauley Perrette Reports Another Scary Encounter With a Transient Months After Attack
Perrette says reporting her alleged stalker has also been a frustrating experience.
"I had a stalking detective tell me, 'You should have stayed and let him break your arms, then we could have done something,'" she recalled.
"Another police officer said, when we were trying to talk to him about stalking law, he said, 'Well, we're trying to solve homicides,'" she added. "I'm like, 'We're trying to prevent them!'"
Perrette is now leading the charge in advocating for stricter stalking laws, turning her experience into something that can help others.
"If I can change the law and save someone else's life, it gives me something to the story, other than I'm a stalking victim," she shared.
Perrette was also the victim of an unrelated scary attack in 2015, when the actress said she was punched repeatedly and had her life threatened by a "psychotic homeless man."
See more on the incident in the video below.