Mena Suvari claims that one of her exes “manipulated” her into having threesomes with other women.
The “American Beauty” star – who has previously been candid about surviving childhood sexual abuse – said in an interview with The Guardian published Wednesday that she was only 17 years old when she met the lighting engineer, who reportedly verbally abused herself. and sexually abused. hair.
Suvari, 43, went on to claim that her ex, whom she declined to name, would ask her to pick up women to have threesomes with, including those she met on set.
Years later, the actress ran into several of the women and even said to one, “I want you to know I’ve never wanted to do any of those things.”
Suvari – who has a 1-year-old son, Christopher, with husband Michael Hope – said the woman was surprised and told her, “Oh, he told me you wanted to do that.”
“It was a huge eye opener for me, how I was being manipulated and I had no idea,” she told the outlet. “The conditions were created for me and I was just swallowed up by them.”
Suvari also claimed she was forced to use uncomfortable sex toys and needed medical attention after rough anal sex.
She added: “I was not loved. I was only a body, a receptacle for his desires.”
The “Six Feet Under” alum revealed that her experience with the lighting engineer has influenced her current relationship with sex.
“I’ve never wanted to speak negatively about things that can be very healthy for other people,” she explained. “I wasn’t given the choice or the permission to do it, and that was what was so destructive to me. It is very annoying when you are sexually abused because some of it is satisfying. But then the other part is an absolute nightmare, so you’re confused, you don’t know what’s right.”
Suvari complained that she “never got a chance to discover herself sexually”, adding that she can’t imagine what it would have been like to “go out together all through high school and then decide to share your virginity with each other.” losses”.
“That seems so beautiful to me,” she concluded. “That’s all lost to me.”
Suvari, who also struggled with drug use, previously claimed that her older brother’s boyfriend raped her when she was 12 years old.
“Part of me died that day,” Suvari told People. “He used me, had fun with me and then threw me away. He called me a whore. I never had a healthy expression of [sex]. My choice was lost. And that, compounded with already feeling unseen and heard, established a concept I would have of myself. That was my value.”
Suvari finally found happiness when she secretly married Hope, her third husband, in 2018 after dating for two years.
They welcomed Christopher in 2021.