Teri Hatcher says she was sexually abused as a child

mtlebay · March 7th, 2006, 09:58 PM

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* * * * NEW YORK (AP) - Teri Hatcher, one of the stars of ABC's Desperate Housewives, says in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair that her uncle sexually molested her 35 years ago.

The 41-year-old actress says she learned in 2002 that a 14-year-old victim of her uncle had committed suicide. Concerned that he would escape charges of molestation, Hatcher approached the prosecutors. "This is something I've tried to hide my whole life," Hatcher tells the magazine, which hits newsstands Friday with the actress on the cover.

"I was just blown away by this young girl's pain," she says. "I thought, boy, that's really close to being me. Any day of the week I could feel that sort of pain. I haven't tried to kill myself, but I've certainly thought about it."

After Hatcher came forward, her uncle, Richard Stone, then 64-years-old, pleaded guilty to four counts of child molestation and received 14 years in prison.

Chuck Gillingham, the Santa Clara County deputy district attorney in California, said, "Without Teri, this case would have been dismissed."

Hatcher said she hesitated because she thought tabloids would suggest she was trying to resuscitate her then-languishing career: "Here's what I anticipated. He did this, he gets off, and Teri ends up on the cover a tabloid."

Hatcher said she was five-years-old living in Sunnyvale, Calif., with her family when Stone would manipulate situations to get him and Hatcher alone in his car so he could take advantage of her.

"These are haunting things that I've remembered all my life," she says.

As many victims of sexual abuse do, Hatcher had complicated feelings about the abuse. She didn't see her uncle after she was eight-or nine-years-old, and never told her parents, though she thinks they suspected.

"I think their way of dealing with things is denial and guilt," she says. "Nobody wanted to talk about it. But all I did was blame myself."

Hatcher's career was revived with the hit Desperate Housewives, for which she's twice been nominated for a Golden Globe, winning last year.

"I have so much pain," she says. "I'm a woman who carries around all these layers of fear and vulnerability. I'm trying to be my powerful me."

www.canada.com

SVZ · March 7th, 2006, 10:02 PM

....................................

olivia720 · March 7th, 2006, 10:13 PM

Wow, that's really sad. I really feel for her.

tulip · March 7th, 2006, 10:48 PM

I am going to come off as very cold and callous, and I don't normally react to stories of child abuse so lightly, but I am so sick and tired of celebs spilling all their deep dark secrets to Vanity Fair at an opportune time in their career.

One minute Teri's spouting off about her sex life, and then her lack of it, and now this. I wish she'd just shut up.

Bellatheball · March 7th, 2006, 11:20 PM

^^ (standing ovation) THANK YOU. Normally I'm sickened by abuse against any child. But the first thing I thought was damn, is this the newest thing? I thought we were still on anorexia?

Laurent · March 8th, 2006, 01:50 AM

Brava, tulip.

Karizma · March 8th, 2006, 01:53 AM

I dont like this woman at all, but this is really sad.....

Voodoo Child · March 8th, 2006, 02:01 AM

I don't really know what to say about this. Why is she speaking up now? Anyhow horrible thing to happen to anyone.

buttmunch · March 8th, 2006, 05:15 AM

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LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- "Desperate Housewives" star Teri Hatcher revealed on Tuesday that she was sexually abused by an uncle as a child but kept it secret until he was arrested years later for molesting a girl who ultimately committed suicide.

In an interview appearing in Vanity Fair magazine, Hatcher said she told prosecutors about her abuse in 2002 because she was haunted by thoughts of the 14-year-old girl who shot herself and feared that her uncle might escape conviction.

"I was just blown over by this girl's pain," the 41-year-old television star told Vanity Fair, recalling she learned about the case from newspaper clippings.

"I thought, 'Boy, that's really close to being me.' Any day of the week, I could feel that sort of pain. I haven't tried to kill myself, but I've certainly thought about it, and then I feel guilty about thinking about it, because what's so terrible about my life?"

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Chuck Gillingham credits Hatcher for putting her uncle, Richard Hayes Stone, who was then 64, behind bars.

"Without Teri, this case would have been dismissed," he told the magazine, explaining that Hatcher's account provided key corroborating evidence to establish a pattern of behavior.

Stone, who was married to Hatcher's mother's sister when she was a girl, pleaded guilty to four counts of child molestation in December 2002 and was sentenced to 14 years in prison after Hatcher agreed to testify against him.

"He pleaded guilty, and even though it wasn't to my crime, it was because of my crime, and that made me feel validated," the television star told the magazine.

"That's a victim thing; you ask yourself, 'Am I just crazy? Did I make all this up?' Somehow it might be easier to accept that you're crazy and you made it all up than to admit that it happened, and how awful it was," she said.

Hatcher initially kept her involvement in the case, which never went to trial, a closely guarded secret, declining to include the experience in her upcoming book "Burnt Toast," in part because she worried it might harm her career.

"But I'm 41 years old, and it's time for me to stop hiding," she said.

Hatcher is best known for her TV role as the disaster-prone Susan Mayer on ABC's hit show "Desperate Housewives." She previously co-starred as Lois Lane on the 1990s TV drama "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman."

In the interview, Hatcher recalled in chilling detail how she was sexually molested by Stone starting at age 5, when she and her parents lived in Sunnyvale, California, and the conflicted emotions of feeling both special and ashamed.

"The most horrible thing, that has stuck with me all my life, is that he was touching me and doing things to me, and he said, 'Doesn't that feel good?' (And) I said, 'No, it doesn't.' He said, 'Well, someday you'll know what I'm talking about.'"

Hatcher said that before going to prosecutors four years ago, she had never told anyone of her own ordeal, not even her parents. She said she last saw Stone when she was 8 or 9.

cnn.com

This is a great lesson in why people should talk about the abuse and families should stand strong and not see it as shame. If Teri had been able to tell someone years ago, the 14-year-old might not have gone through the abuse and ultimately might still be alive. How horrible.

UndercoverGator · March 8th, 2006, 05:55 AM

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This is a great lesson in why people should talk about the abuse and families should stand strong and not see it as shame. If Teri had been able to tell someone years ago, the 14-year-old might not have gone through the abuse and ultimately might still be alive. How horrible.

Exactly! Keeping things like this a secret benefit no one and cause great harm to others in the long run. This makes me have much more respect for Hatcher, who's someone I've dismissed for years as clueless and slightly crazy. The more people that come forward and confront their molesters hopefully it will inspire others do to the same. No wonder she's struggled with eating disorders, it all makes perfect sense now.