America Ferrera has joined the growing list of women sharing their sexual assault and harassment stories online as part of the #MeToo movement.
"I told no one and lived with the shame and guilt thinking all along that I, a 9-year-old child, was somehow responsible for the actions of a grown man," wrote the now-33-year-old actor, who noted that her assaulter was a man she knew and saw often.
Ferrera went on to encourage women to break their silence about sexual harassment and assault, "so that the next generation of girls won't have to live with this bullshit."
This is far from the first time the Superstore actor has used her platform to speak out about women's rights. She had a leading role at the Women's March in Washington, DC, in January, and campaigned for Hillary Clinton during the presidential election.
In November 2015, Ferrera talked to BuzzFeed News about the importance of "standing up for women and girls." "It's just seizing the opportunity when the opportunity is there to say the thing that needs to be said," she said at the time.
