SAN FRANCISCO, May 26, (THEWILL) – Nollywood veteran, Rita Edochie was a guest at a seminar to end violence against children recently.
While there the actress revealed to NAN that she was sexually abused by a family friend at a very young age.
“I was a victim of sexual abuse; that was when I was in primary six; I was going to the hospital and somebody called me,” she said.
“The boy used some diabolic means and sexually violated me; when I could not see my period, I refused to tell my mother, because she was very strict. I love sharing my experience because at the end of the day I succeeded; If I had not succeeded, I would not have been able to be saying it.”
She explained that the pregnancy was about seven months before her mother noticed it.
Edochie added that her mother was shocked because she thought her being strict would not allow such a thing to happen.
“My mother asked how it happened and I told her everything; my brother picked a knife and wanted to kill me, but my mother stopped him,” she said.
“It happened that the mother of the boy that violated me was my mother’s friend; the boy’s mother was surprise but the boy denied. My mother took me to hospital to abort the pregnancy with a plan of taking me to my grandmother’s place to stay for one week before returning home.
“I told her I may lose my life in the process; and because she loved me, she aborted the planned abortion. I feel it was God that spoke through me. My mother took care of the baby while I went to school; if not for my mother, I would not be where I am today.”
The veteran actress called on parents to communicate regularly with their children and make them “their best friends”.
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