Ashley Judd sat down with a man who raped her in 1999 for a “recovery justice interview.”
The 54-year-old actress described the meeting on Tuesday’s episode of the podcast “Healing With David Kessler”, saying that they “sat together in rocking chairs by a stream”.
The Los Angeles native explained that while she “didn’t need anything” from her rapist, she was “very interested in” his story.
The man reportedly “expressed deep regrets and made amends,” Judd said, which was “just gravy,” considering she’d already done “trauma work” on her own.
“I wanted to share that story because there are many ways to heal from grief, and it’s important to remind listeners,” she added.
Judd has previously spoken out publicly about surviving rape three times. She first shared her story in her 2011 memoir, “All That Is Bitter & Sweet.”
In 2015, the “Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood” star thanked her therapist for helping her “finally talk” about the seizures.
“Nine years into my recovery, I can go on and say my ‘story’ is not ‘my story,'” she wrote in a Mic.com essay at the time.
“It’s something that a Higher Power (spirituality, for me has been essential in this healing) uses to give me the grace and privilege to help others who are still in pain and maybe a little bit of education, awareness and action to our world. ‘ Judd continued.
The “Missing” alum revealed four years later that she became pregnant from one of her rapes, telling Katie Couric how “grateful” she had access to a “safe and legal abortion” at the time.
“The rapist, who is a Kentuckian like me, and I live in Tennessee, has paternity rights in Kentucky and Tennessee,” Judd explained during the 2019 Women in the World panel discussion.
“I should have co-parented a rapist.”
If you or someone you know needs help, give us a call the National Sexual Violence Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).