Content warning: This post deals with sexual assault and may be distressing for some readers.
Earlier this month Abigail Breslin bravely came forward as a survivor of sexual assault with a post to her Instagram account.
The Little Miss Sunshine star shared her story in time with the United States’ Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
With the caption “I knew my assailant” and hashtags #SexualAssaultAwarenessMonth and #breakthesilence, the actress posted a powerful message about consent.
And now 20-year-old Breslin has responded to a comment on another one of her posts that read “reported rapes are the only rapes that count”.
In an Instagram post Breslin spoke about why she didn’t report her rape, writing: “I didn’t report my rape. I didn’t report it because of many reasons”.
The actress explained that she was in “complete shock and total denial” after she was raped by someone she knew.
“I didn’t want to view myself as a ‘victim’ so I suppressed it and pretended it never happened.”
The My Sister’s Keeper star goes on to explain that she was in a relationship with her rapist and she feared she would not be believed.
“I also feared that if my case didn’t go anywhere, he would still find out and hurt me even more.”
Thirdly, Breslin didn’t report her rape because she “knew how hurt [her] family and friends would be after finding out” and she didn’t want to put them through that.
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Report rape regardless of gender.