Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
Bollywood

I Was Raped At 16, Kept Silent: TV Host Padma Lakshmi

Darpan News Desk, 26 Sep, 2018 01:30 PM
    US television host Padma Lakshmi has said she was raped at the age of 16, but kept silent as she feared fingers would point at her for bringing it upon herself.
     
     
    The 48-year-old Top Chef host, wrote a piece for the New York Times published on Tuesday, where she made the revelation. 
     
     
    The article was prompted by allegations surrounding US President Donald Trump's choice for the Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by two women, the BBC reported.
     
     
    However, Trump has defended Kavanaugh and cast doubt on the two women. He tweeted: "I have no doubt that, if the attack... was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. 
     
     
    He also asked Christine Blasey Ford to make public her compliant "so that we can learn the date, time, and place".
     
     
    Lakshmi wrote: "President Trump tweeted that if what Ford said was true, she would have filed a police report years ago.
     
     
    "But I understand why both women would keep this information to themselves for so many years without involving the police. For years, I did the same thing."
     
     
    Lakshmi said she was raped on New Year's Eve by her boyfriend in the 1980s. She had met him, who was then 23, while working in Los Angeles.
     
     
    After attending a couple of New Year's Eve parties, she said they went to his apartment where she fell asleep, and woke up with him on top of her.
     
     
     
     
    "I asked, 'What are you doing?'...'Please don't do this,' I screamed. I didn't report it. Not to my mother, not to my friends and certainly not to the police," she wrote.
     
     
    She said she began to feel the attack was her fault. She explained: "We had no language in the 1980s for date rape. I imagined that adults would say: 'What the hell were you doing in his apartment?'" 
     
     
    She said she understood why women might not disclose sexual assaults.
     
     
    Thirty-two years on, she says: "I have nothing to gain by talking about this."
     
     
    But she added, alluding to Trump's implication that allegations not made immediately are less true or less severe: "We all have a lot to lose if we put a time limit on telling the truth about sexual assault."
     
     
    Her account won praise on social media. 
     
     
    The allegations against Judge Kavanaugh, which he has repeatedly denied, date back to the 1980s. Christine Blasey Ford, his first accuser, is due to testify before a US Senate panel this week.

    MORE Bollywood ARTICLES

    Ishaan Khatter Shares Throwback Picture With Shahid

    Ishaan Khatter Shares Throwback Picture With Shahid
    We all have fond memories from our childhood and who doesn't like looking at old pictures with siblings?

    Ishaan Khatter Shares Throwback Picture With Shahid

    Rajkummar Rao Is On The Road To Great Success: Anil Kapoor

    Rajkummar Rao Is On The Road To Great Success: Anil Kapoor
    Bollywood actor Rajkummar Rao is ringing in his 34th birthday today and his 'Fanney Khan' co-actor Anil Kapoor is definitely in awe of the 'City Lights ' actor.

    Rajkummar Rao Is On The Road To Great Success: Anil Kapoor

    SC Quashes 'Wink' FIR Against Malayalam Actress Priya Varrier

    SC Quashes 'Wink' FIR Against Malayalam Actress Priya Varrier
    The Supreme Court on Friday quashed an FIR lodged in Hyderabad against Malayalam actress Priya Prakash Varrier, who shot to fame following her 'wink song' 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi...' from the film 'Oru Addar Love.'

    SC Quashes 'Wink' FIR Against Malayalam Actress Priya Varrier

    Women Are Judged More Often Than Men: Swara Bhaskar

    Women Are Judged More Often Than Men: Swara Bhaskar
    Actress Swara Bhaskar, known for raising her voice on several social issues -- especially those related to women's safety and equality -- says women have to face more judgment than men.

    Women Are Judged More Often Than Men: Swara Bhaskar

    I Like Surprising People With Something Unexpected: Shahid Kapoor

    I Like Surprising People With Something Unexpected: Shahid Kapoor
    Be it Haider Meer, Tommy Singh, Maharaja Rawal Ratan Singh or his upcoming portrayal as boxing hero Dingko Singh, actor Shahid Kapoor says he loves to take the audience by surprise with something that they do not expect him to do.

    I Like Surprising People With Something Unexpected: Shahid Kapoor

    Whimsical, Glamorous: Shweta Bachchan Nanda On MXs Line With Monisha

    Whimsical, Glamorous: Shweta Bachchan Nanda On MXs Line With Monisha
    We both like a certain image, and when you have that kind of synchrocity, it is half the battle won. I like that Monisha is very easy, her clothes are never trying too hard

    Whimsical, Glamorous: Shweta Bachchan Nanda On MXs Line With Monisha