Actress Ashley Judd, 54, said she met with the man who raped her to have a “restorative justice conversation” years later. The statement was made to the podcast Healing with David Kessler, this Tuesday (26).
Judd said she was raped in 1999 and, years later, found the abuser with ease. According to the actress, they sat in rocking chairs by a stream. “And I said, ‘I’m very interested in hearing the story you’ve carried all these years.’ And we had a restorative justice conversation about it.”
The actress stated that she decided to share the story because there are many ways to heal pain, which is an inside job. “It’s important to remind listeners that I didn’t need anything from him and that it was just a feeling that he made amends and expressed his deep remorse,” added Judd.
Despite the conversation with her abuser, the actress said she didn’t need his cooperation because she was given the opportunity to do her trauma, grief and healing work. “I was able to have all these shifts in my own consciousness and connect in these female coalition spaces with other survivors.”
In 2019, Judd said she is “a survivor of three rapes” and recalled, while advocating for abortion rights, how one of those incidents led to a pregnancy. “I’m so grateful to have had access to safe and legal abortion,” she said at the time at the Women in the World summit in New York.
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
