Ellen DeGeneres claims her stepfather sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager
The American chat show host opened up about her abuse to David Letterman
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Ellen DeGeneres has claimed her stepfather sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager.
The American chat show host joined David Letterman in his Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, and during the show, she opened up about her mother, Betty, who had married a ‘bad man’.
While speaking to Letterman, Ellen claimed her stepfather waited until her mum was out of town before telling her he needed to feel her breasts to check for lumps.
She said: “He told me when she was out of town that he’d felt a lump in [my mother’s] breast and needed to feel my breasts because he didn’t want to upset her, but he needed to feel mine.
“I’m angry at myself because, you know, I didn’t – I was too weak to stand up – I was 15 or 16.
“It’s a really horrible, horrible story and the only reason I’m actually going to go into detail about it is because I want other girls to not ever let someone do that.”
She also went on to say how she believes women who have been sexually assaulted are ‘scared to say no’ and how men are able to ‘get away with so much’.
Ellen continued: “We [women] just don’t feel like we’re worthy, or we’re scared to have a voice, and we’re scared to say no.
“That’s the only reason I think it’s important to talk about it because there’s so many young girls and it doesn’t matter how old you are.
“When I see people speaking out, especially now, it angers me when victims aren’t believed, because we just don’t make stuff up.
“And 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.”
Hollywood has been the centre of an ongoing scandal with the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey both being accused of a number of sexual assault and harassment allegations.