Actress and model Cara Delevingne has spoken up via Twitter revealing why she waited to share her story about being sexually abused.
She wrote: “I felt ashamed of what happened and didn’t want to publicly ruin someone’s life,” using the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport on the 27th of September.
Delevingne follows in the footsteps of several other celebrities who have used the hashtag to come forward with their experiences about why they delayed speaking out about sexual abuse.
Delevingne is one of several other actresses who have accused producer Harvey Weinstein of being sexually abusive. She claimed that Weinstein behaved improperly towards her and had told a woman to kiss her in a hotel room.
She wrote on Instagram: “I felt guilty as if I did something wrong. I was also terrified that this sort of thing had happened to so many women I know but no one had said anything because of fear.”
Weinstein has been accused of rape multiple times but denies the charges.
In response to the movement of people speaking out about past sexual abuse, President Donald Trump said that the time gap between the alleged events and the public complaints minimised the stories’ credibility.
Yet those who have been sexually abused have their reasons for not speaking out, or waiting to do so.
Mira Sorvino shared her reason on Twitter in the following tweet:
Additionally, over 675,000 people have contributed to the #WhyIDidntReport hashtag on Twitter. Statistics from the World Health Organisation suggest that 35% of women worldwide have been sexually abused.