This episode talks about the sexual abuse of minors and maybe upsetting to some listeners.

Right now, in November 2020, I've spent just short of a year reporting on the survivors

of Jeffrey Epstein.

It's been hard to listen to what these women have gone through and how their abuse continues

to affect them to this day.

It's been especially hard because I have a feeling of what that's like.

Even the story has made me face some of the darker moments in my own life that I try

not to think about.

Like Virginia, Courtney, and others, I know what it's like to feel powerless.

I know this because when I was 16 years old, I was raped.

That's how I lost my virginity.

It upended my world and everything I knew.

I struggled with the idea of telling my story on this podcast.

This is about the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, not me.

But through this year, I've met so many incredible women who have shown me that you can be a

victim and be strong.

That being abused is not shameful.

Courtney Wilde helped me realize how much I had internalized the blame that our society

pins on sexual assault survivors.

I was tabling myself.

I didn't want to regret this choice.

So I asked her about it during our visit in Florida.

...