Instagram influencer Cora Smith 'paints rosy picture' of Dominican Republic, despite being sexually assaulted and threatened
An Instagram influencer has opened up about her harrowing ordeal during a trip to the Dominican Republic with her husband after she was nearly abducted and sexually assaulted in the country.
Cora Smith is famous on Instagram for her travels around the world with her husband Jay. However, she says she felt compelled to paint a rosy picture of their three-month vacation to the DR in 2018 to her approximately 26,000 followers as if it was an "obligation", according to a New York Post report.
"You feel this obligation to be honest, but a fear of rejection if you are," Smith said in an interview with Business Insider. "I didn't tell my story, and I think it's out of fear."
The couple, hailing from Orlando, Florida, accommodated themselves in various Airbnbs in Santo Domingo, Punta Cana, and Costambar. Smith recounted their second day in Santo Domingo where she was approached by a man in a car while out jogging in the street. Jay was napping at the time.
According to her, the man got out of his vehicle and opened the passenger door, inviting her in. However, Smith quickly turned the opposite direction and bolted from the scene. Then, in Punta Cana, Smith was riding her bike while her husband was ahead of her when three men rode up to her on a motorbike and groped her.
"They were violating me in every way you can except being raped," she said. "I kept trying to kick them away but I had no control of what was happening. They pushed my bike to try to get me to fall over. I'm yelling for my husband but he's ahead of me and he couldn’t hear me."
After the harrowing ordeal, Smith didn't feel safe leaving her husband's side in the Dominican Republic. Nonetheless, the couple continued to stay in the country as they couldn't afford to change their elaborate travel agenda. "We really kind of isolated ourselves to protect ourselves from the dangers of where we were," Smith said.
What's more? Smith said she couldn't even approach the police, as they previously threatened to throw her husband behind bars if he didn't give up his wallet. "We were very worried about bashing anyone or anything. In all honesty, influencers are too scared to tell the truth and feel they need to show the beautiful side," Smith said. "Most people only want to hear the positive things."
The couple's Instagram photos from their DR trip, however, tell quite a different story — filled with palm tree-lined beaches, gorgeous sunsets, and drinks with a group of friends. According to Smith, they didn't make money off the vacation as they didn't have a huge following at the time.
The avid traveler first shared her nightmarish experience in a blog post last year. She wanted to make her ordeal more publicly known following the recent news of a series of deaths in the DR. Apart from the deaths, Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz was sitting at a bar in Santo Domingo when he was shot out of the blue. Also, a mother from Delaware was brutally attacked at a resort in the country.
"It's not a safe country, and it's not just the five-star resorts," Smith said. "I feel like I can’t sit here and listen to the prime minister say, 'Our country is safe' because it's not safe."