Teri Hatcher has emotionally spoken out her experiences of being sexually abused at a press conference for the upcoming Women’s World Awards which honor women‘s achievements.
The Desperate Housewives star, who appeared with former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev who runs the awards, hopes she’ll raise awareness of violence towards women persuade other victims to come forward.
"It's the choice to not remain silent," she said fighting back the tears. "It's a choice to raise our voices in a strong way to say to perpetrators that we are not going to be silent anymore."
"Recently I had the honor, really, of being able to come forward and help raise awareness of some violence against women," she brave actress said with tears streaming down her face.
The 41-year-old recently told Vanity Fair that she has been molested by her uncle between the ages of 5 and 9. A teenage girl was reportedly driven to commit suicide after the same man abused her.
Teri came forward with the confession after finding out about the tragic case in newspaper and her testimony helped but her uncle behind bars for a 14-year prison sentence.
She also said that women often blame themselves for being abused and "These experiences that we have in our lives, both personally and professionally, leave us with a choice: The choice to use our experiences to enlighten and empower and change people's lives, and that is the choice that I am getting behind."
This year’s awards ceremony will take in October in New York.
