In her new mental health docuseries “The Me You Can’t See,” which she collaborated with Prince Harry on, Oprah Winfrey opened up about her experience being raped as a child by a teenage cousin.
Winfrey, 67, could not help but break down in tears as she recalled the traumatic event.
“At nine and 10 and 11 and 12 years old, I was raped by my 19-year-old cousin,” she said, according to Page Six. “I didn’t know what rape was. I certainly wasn’t aware of the word. I had no idea what sex was, I had no idea where babies came from, I didn’t even know what was happening to me.”
“It’s just something I accepted,” she continued, adding that the experience taught her “that a girl child ain’t safe in a world full of men.”
“The telling of the story, the being able to say out loud, ‘This is what happened to me,’ is crucial,” Oprah made sure to add.
Oprah also opened up this week about being physically abused by her grandmother, telling “Today” on Friday that, “It is because I was raised poor, and no running water, and going to the well, and getting whippings that I have such compassion for people who have experienced it.”
“It has given me a broader understanding and a deeper appreciation for every little and big thing that I now have,” she stated.
“The Me You Can’t See” premiered on Apple TV+ on Friday.
“All over the world people are in some kind of mental, psychological, emotional pain,” Oprah told Harry in the trailer. “Being able to say, ‘This is what happened what happened to me,’ is crucial.”
“To make that decision to receive help is not a sign of weakness,” Harry said. “In today’s world, more than ever, it is a sign of strength.”
Harry previously expressed hopes that the docuseries will show that “there is power in vulnerability.”
“We are born into different lives, brought up in different environments, and as a result are exposed to different experiences,” he said. “But our shared experience is that we are all human. The majority of us carry some form of unresolved trauma, loss, or grief, which feels – and is – very personal.”
“Yet the last year has shown us that we are all in this together and my hope is that this series will show there is power in vulnerability, connection in empathy and strength in honesty,” Harry continued.
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