Kaya Scodelario courageously broke her silence about the sexual abuse she suffered as a young child, but the actress won't allow the "horrific" assault to define her.
The 25-year-old actress spoke out about being sexually assaulted when she was just 12 in a post on Twitter last year while responding to the #MeToo movement sweeping across social media.
View full post on XAnd while Scodelario says that she's proud that she summoned the strength to speak out and is grateful for the outpouring of support she's received, she's aware that by making it public she'll be "asked about it forever now".
"The response was wonderful, it was a relief but I am still dealing with it, and I am now dealing with a new side of it, which is this," Scodelario told the Metro while promoting the third and final film in The Maze Runner series, The Death Cure.
"I will be asked about it forever now," she continued. "I hope it doesn't define me but it will always be under my name and I accept that - but I am proud I was brave enough to do it and I am grateful for the support I had from friends."
At the time, the Pirates of the Caribbean star said she wanted to share her story for the sake of her one-year-old son that she shares with husband Benjamin Walker, tweeting: "So that he will see one day that we all have a voice.
View full post on X"And that this behaviour cannot be tolerated any longer."
She also added that she spoke out to help others going through similar experiences, and in an attempt to erode feelings of shame or guilt still attached to abuse.
"I remember thinking that if I was 12 years old and I had this horrific thing happen to me but I saw a woman I admired speaking up about it, it would have made me feel less guilty, and it would have inspired me to think, 'This won't hold me back, this is something that has happened but I am not a victim,'" she explained.
"So I thought if I can do that for one person then I owe it to my 12-year-old self."
Scodelario has previously been vocal about gender inequality and the troubling gender age gap in Hollywood.
Speaking to The Guardian, she pointed out: "Nine out of 10 times, if I read a script, it will be me being with a guy that is twice my age, which is really f**king weird."
