Teri Hatcher Reports Sexual Abuse

James Joyner @ Gone Hollywood | Wednesday, March 8, 2006

“Desperate Housewives” star Teri Hatcher has told Vanity Fair about her history of childhood sexual abuse.

Teri Hatcher has revealed that she was a victim of child abuse. The brave Desperate Housewives star spoke of her ordeal in an emotional interview with Vanity Fair.

She told of abuse she suffered from the age of five at the hands of her uncle, Richard Hayes Stone, who she helped to convict in 2002. She said: “I remember him making me touch him and feeling like I don’t want to do this at all. I was completely horrified. “I haven’t tried to kill myself, but I’ve certainly thought about it.”

Aged eight, Teri went “ballistic” on finding out her abuser was coming to dinner and her mother kept him away from her from then on.She said: “My parents are really well intended and I think their way of dealing with things is denial and guilt. Nobody wanted to talk about it. But all I did was blame myself.”

Stone was charged with sexual molestation when a neighbour, Sarah Van Cleemput, committed suicide in January 2002, leaving a note saying: “Ask Dick”. Teri stepped forward when it seemed the case might easily be thrown out. He received 12 years in jail. The deputy district attorney said: “Without Teri, this case would have been dismissed – heroic is a word that doesn’t do what she did justice.”

Despite confronting her pain, Teri stressed the long-lasting effects of her abuse. She said: “I am a woman who carries around all these layers of fear and vulnerability. “The biggest effect to me is this area of love and men, which hasn’t been so great.”