In a video posted on Saturday, Katie Knowles stated she had never spoken about the abuse publicly before, other than to some friends and family, and revealed she was raped by her father for years. The 35-year-old, who married presenter Nick last year, had never before spoken publicly about the abuse. One day after her initial video, she posted a new video thanking those who reached out to her.
According to her social media post, she said she was amazed and overwhelmed by the response to her video, noting men condemning other men and women sharing their stories. Knowles described specific incidents of harassment that illustrate a broader pattern. She recalled a man in his late 30s or early 40s finding her on Facebook after seeing her in school uniform and asking her out, and another who asked her out after seeing her in uniform multiple times.
I was a little bit amazed and overwhelmed by the response I had to my video yesterday. Men openly condemning these other men, which is a good start. The amount of women saying me too and sharing their stories was sad, but of those women, the amount that said how much they appreciated me speaking about my experiences was the silver lining.
She emphasized that such experiences are not isolated, stating every woman she has spoken to could list similar experiences of harassment, abuse, or violence. Knowles' personal background includes recent life events, as she is 35 years old and married presenter Nick last year. The trigger for her public disclosure this week was a mood dip after reading a CNN exposé into a global online rape academy, which she said heightened her concerns about women's safety.
Authorities' response to Knowles' revelations and any ongoing investigations related to the harassment incidents she described have not been confirmed. The full content and impact of the CNN exposé into the global online rape academy that Knowles mentioned remain unclear, as do specific measures being discussed to address the broader issues of women's safety highlighted by her statements. How Knowles' family, including her husband Nick, has responded to her public disclosures is also unknown at this time.
Silence and shame are the abusers power over us. After I'd recorded this video, I started thinking about all the other examples I missed. For instance - getting the train to school every day and doing my make up and after months of seeing the same guy every day while in my school uniform he managed to find me on Facebook and ask me out. Again, a man in his late 30s early 40s who somehow managed to find my name and my social media. And another one who asked me out having seen me in my uniform multiple times. These are not isolated incidents, and I could list 100 more. But so could every other woman I've spoken to about it. Whether it's unwanted touching, verbal harassment, sexual abuse, being followed or intimated, domestic violence...This is all happening to too many, too often.
I have never spoken about this publicly, other than to friends, family and even then not everyone. I was raped by my dad for years, years and years.
There are times when it comes up but I have had a lot of therapy to get to be being as balanced as I can be about it now, and can be is the important bit. Things like this, if you know a woman, if you are a woman, if you're a mother to women, just anything, any affiliation with women, I think we should be worried looking at the news. It's not all men, but it is. It is men. It is men who commit the majority of domestic violence and sexual abuse. In my case it was a man. It's almost always in sexual abuse like that, someone that you know or a family member or a partner, or an ex-partner. Almost always.
It's a terrifying world sometimes to think being a woman is like this, where I walked from the gym back to the car and I had my keys like this [tightly gripped] in my hand. I'm wearing this, a sports bra and shor