08 November,2017 09:29 AM IST | Los Angeles | ANI
In yet another horrific incident, actress Kristina Cohen has recently revealed the 'dark time in my life,' when 'Gossip Girls' star Ed Westwick raped her three years back at his house
Picture courtesy/Kristina Cohen Instagram account
In yet another horrific incident, actress Kristina Cohen has recently revealed the 'dark time in my life,' when 'Gossip Girls' star Ed Westwick raped her three years back at his house. The 28-year-old actor alleged in her Facebook post that she met Westwick for the first time when she visited the 30-year-old actor's apartment with her then- boyfriend who was friends with him.
Picture courtesy/Kristina Cohen Instagram account
She said she wanted to leave after the Wivked City' star made some sexual comments, but stayed back at his place as her producer boyfriend did not want to make the "White Gold" actor feel awkward. The post read, "The last month has been incredibly difficult. Like so many women I too have a story of sexual assault, and the outpouring of stories have been both triggering and emotionally exhausting. I've gone back and forth over and over again, unsure if I should speak up. If I could speak. And if so, will I be heard?"
"I was sexually assaulted three years ago. It was a dark time in my life. My mom was dying of cancer and I didn't have the support system or time to process and deal with the aftermath of the rape. I buried my pain and guilt to make space for the onslaught that came after my mom's death, just three months later,' she added. 'Even now, I grapple with feelings of guilt. Unfounded worry that in some way I was to blame. I don't know where these feelings come from. Social conditioning that everything is always the woman's fault? That a man's inability to keep himself off of our bodies is somehow because of us, not him?" she expressed.
"I've grown considerably in the three years since my assault, so to revisit is painful. To dig in and relive this night in order to accurately share the events, feels like a continued violation. My stomach is in knots, scared as hell to share this publicly, as even fully reconciling with myself has been a tough process," she stated.
"I was briefly dating a producer who was friends with the actor Ed Westwick. It was this producer who brought me up to Ed's house where I met Ed for the first time. I wanted to leave when Ed suggested 'we should all fuck'. But the producer didn't want to make Ed feel awkward by leaving. Ed insisted we stay for dinner. I said I was tired and wanted to leave, trying to get out of what was already an uncomfortable situation. Ed suggested I nap in the guest bedroom. The producer said we would stay for just another 20 more minutes to smooth everything over, and then we could leave," she added.
"So I went and laid down in the guest room where I eventually fell asleep, I was woken up abruptly by Ed on top of me, his fingers entering my body. I told him to stop, but he was strong. I fought him off as hard as I could but he grabbed my face in his hands, shaking me, telling me he wanted to fuck me. I was paralyzed, terrified. I couldn't speak, I could no longer move. He held me down and raped me," she said.
While adding the actress said, 'I now realize the ways in which these men in power prey on women, and how this tactic is used so frequently in our industry, and surely, in many others. I'm sickened to see men like Ed respected in such a public way. Interviewed by prestigious platforms such as the Oxford Union Society at Oxford University, where he was honored as one of their 'People who Shape our World.'
In the end, the actress concluded that men like Ed use fame and power to rape and then continue through the world collecting accolades. 'I hope my coming forward will help others to know that they are not alone, that they are not to blame, and it is not their fault. Just as the other women and men coming forward have helped me to realize the same. I hope that my stories and the stories of others help to reset and realign the toxic environments and power imbalances that have created these monsters,' she wrote.
Cohen's allegations come to light after several Hollywood men like Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein have been accused of sexual assault against multiple men and women.
