Lucy Hale opens up about sexual assault, says she's been 'unscathed'
Lucy Hale has been most significantly known as the fierce Aria Montgomery from the widely popular show, Pretty Little Liars. And now, she has fiercely opened up about her own ties to the raging #MeToo movement, sharing her harrowing experience with sexual assault in a recent interview. has her own ties to the #MeToo movement.
Speaking to the Haute Living magazine, the 29-year-old actor revealed for the second time that she too has been sexually assaulted. This comes after her announcement via an Instagram story earlier this year that details her stance on the topic, but she had quickly deleted that.
“I’ve experienced stuff on the small side, but assault is assault,” the 'Dude' actress shared with Haute Living Los Angeles in an interview that was released on Monday.
“I think there are a lot of people who have been intoxicated and taken advantage of,” she said. “It’s happened to me and people I know. It’s very common. Luckily, I’ve been unscathed; nothing’s hurt me too badly.”
In Hale's first post on Instagram and Twitter about an incident alluding to sexual assault, she had written, "I never understood sexual assault until tonight. I always sympathized, but never truly felt the paint [sic] of it until right now. My dignity and pride was broken. I am completely at a loss for words. I feel for anyone that has felt this pain that I feel right now. But I promise. I will not let a moment go by that I don't try to make a difference."
Hale did not provide any further details about the incident, neither has she spoken on the topic up until now. But she did have some strong opinions about the impact of the #MeToo movement on the current social scenario of sexual harassment towards women.
Speaking to People magazine, the actress had shared that part of the movement is helping survivors of sexual assault feel less alone.
“I feel grateful to have people that I look up to that are speaking up about things,” she told the outlet. “Not just women — I think men have sometimes suffered the same way that women have. And as long as a conversation is going or a conversation has started, which it has, that’s the best thing you could ever ask for because that makes people feel not alone. I think if powerful people can make a difference by speaking up, which they are, that will trickle down hopefully.”
Hale, who is currently dating her Life Sentence co-star, Riley Smith, also shared how much she has evolved post her PLL days and the epiphany to change her life arrived soon after the show ended.
“I went through this weird phase, and it wasn’t the happiest I’ve ever been,” she recalls. “I was going through real human s**t that we all go through, and it was shortly after that that I told myself I was going to make some major changes that would make me happier. Part of that is cutting out all the bulls**t and making decisions for me, not for anyone else.”