AnnaLynne McCord is sharing the harrowing story of how she was raped at the age of 18.
The 90210 star has spoken about being sexually assaulted in the past, and in an interview with the BBC this week she explained that it was one of her friends who raped her in her house.
“I was in my own home,” she said. “I let a friend come stay at my place, because he needed to crash, and I woke up and my Southern hospitality, if you want to call it that, was being greatly taken advantage of. I woke up, and he was inside me.”
Harrowing: AnnaLynne McCord was “suicidal” after a male friend raped her at the age of 18. The actress had to act out a rape storyline on her show 90210 | The CW
AnnaLynne said that she tried to move on from the ordeal by pretending that it never happened, but it led her to think about taking her own life.
“I became very, very dark. Suicidal. Self-harming — cutting up my arms,” the actress admitted.
During her time on 90210, AnnaLynne had to act out a rape storyline, and she revealed her own experience came flooding back to her while working on the distressing scenes.
“For 10 years I thought it was my fault. I didn’t fight back,” she told the BBC. “I found out recently through my studies of neuroscience that my body completely shut everything down and wouldn’t let me fight back because I thought that was the only way to cope with abuse.”
Now, AnnaLynne is talking about her own experience in the hope of helping her fellow survivors, and does lots of work with charities to help other victims of sexual assault.
