"You feel ashamed," the Oscar winner said. "You feel that somehow it was your fault."
Mira Sorvino has revealed she was date raped.
The Academy Award winning actress made the revelation during a press conference on Wednesday with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to advocate for stronger sexual harassment laws and for the state legislature to extend the statute of limitations on rape crimes.
"I am also a survivor of date rape," Sorvino said through tears. "I have never said that in public and I do not want to go into detail, but I have never said that last part in public because it is impossible sometimes to share these certain things."
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View Story"I am doing it here to try and help, because there are all these survivors out there right now who need justice, who need to feel that they can take the time they need to sort through the trauma, to sort through the shame," the star continued, "because I can tell you in situations of second degree rape, which is what mine would constitute, you feel ashamed. You feel that somehow it was your fault."
Sorvino, who is the daughter of actor Paul Sorvino, did not elaborate on the details of the alleged crime.
"I've been in this room many, many times on many issues, I don't think I've ever heard a more intelligent, powerful, persuasive point that you just made," Governor Cuomo said in response, "and God bless you for being so brave and courageous."
You can watch the full press conference below.
Sorvino claimed in 2017 that disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein had blacklisted her after she turned down his advances in 1995 during the press run for "Mighty Aphrodite," which she won an Oscar for. Weinstein has vehemently denied Sorvino's claims.
Read more of Sorvino's statement from Wednesday's press conference below.
[T]his whole MeToo thing has been wonderful but it's been highly traumatizing for me on a personal level just because I have had to revisit my past and my demons in a way that I really had not fully explored. I had not really dealt with past traumas, I had not really sought out the help I needed.
So this past year and a half has been a very interesting and hard, and wonderful time for me. But, I can stand here before you and say not only was I a sexual harassment and battery victim at the hands of Mr. Weinstein, but I'm also a sexual assault victim and I am also a survivor of date rape.
I have never said that in public and I do not want to go into detail, but I have never said that last part in public because it is impossible sometimes to share these certain things. And I am doing it here to try and help, because there are all these survivors out there right now who need justice, who need to feel that they can take the time they need to sort through the trauma, to sort through the shame, because I can tell you in situations of second degree rape, which is what mine would constitute, you feel ashamed. You feel that somehow it was your fault; that you should have been smarter, that you should've protected yourself better, you should've not taken that drink - who knows what was in it - but that you somehow got yourself into this situation.
Growing up as I did, in a Christian home with a very strong, almost fundamentalist mother and a patriarchal Italian family, there is still a shame to anything sexual being public. So you don't want to air your dirty laundry to other people, even if it was forced upon you, even if it was not your fault really and you've finally come to understand that. You don't really want people to know that about you.