After Lady Gaga’s inspiring performance at the Oscars, Bachelor alum Jade Roper is speaking out about her past with sexual abuse.
In a new blog post, Roper revealed that she was raped when she was 16. The reality star opened up about what happened when two guys took advantage of her in high school.
“I was raped just shy of my 17th birthday... I remember one guy holding me down while another got on top of me. I remember them driving me home and my parents were gone, driving around town looking for me,” Roper explained, “When my parents got home, my dad said he found me in my room on the floor in my underwear, mumbling to him I wasn’t innocent anymore. I was a virgin.”
Roper decided to share her story after watching Lady Gaga perform “Til It Happens To You” during the Academy Awards.
“[Lady Gaga] continued on about her song 'Til It Happens to You' and the sobering statistic that 1 in 5 women will be sexually abused/assaulted by the time they graduate college, 1 in 20 for men,” Roper wrote. “Tanner was surprised by these numbers. Sadly, I was not. I am a part of that statistic.”
Roper found love on The Bachelor spin-off, Bachelor in Paradise. She married Bachelorette alum Tanner Tolbert on Jan. 24. Their wedding aired on ABC on Valentine’s Day.