Allie Wenskoski, Freshman
Ellen DeGeneres first told David Letterman on his new Netflix show that she had been sexually abused by her stepfather. She stated that the abuse started when she was 15 or 16 years old. According to CNN, DeGeneres’ stepfather would use her mother’s breast cancer as an excuse to touch her. As a young girl, DeGeneres was afraid to tell her mother because she did not want to ruin her mother’s happiness with her new husband. Even after she became brave enough to tell her mom, her stepfather called her a liar and her mother believed him. Betty DeGeneres, her mother, and Roy Gruessendorf, her stepfather, stayed together eighteen years after her daughter admitted the truth. Afterwards, DeGeneres said, “I should have never protected my mother. I should have protected myself and I didn’t tell her for a few years, and then I told her. And then she didn’t believe me,”. Though this is not the first time that Ellen has shared about her childhood abuse, this was the first time that details about the sexual abuse came out. Betty Degeneres left Roy Gruessendorf after he changed the story of abusing Ellen too many times. Regarding sexual abuse Betty stated, “I know now that one of the hardest things to do is speak up after being sexually abused. I love my daughter, and I wish I had the capacity to listen to her when she told me what happened”. Ellen also issued a statement furthuring the details of her abuse. She said that Roy would try to break down her bedroom door while she tried to escape out the window.
Ellen’s stepfather had died in 2005 and that was when the first reports of her abuse scandal came out. According to USA Today, she also stated that this abuse did not affect her sexual orientation, or be the reason that she is a lesbian. After bringing up her past abuse, Ellen hopes that her story will inspire other women to come forward and not be scared to have a voice. She also wants her story to inspire the next generation of women. She explained, “I like men, but there are so many men that get away with so much. It is just time for us to have a voice. It’s time for us to have power.
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