Connie Chung has come forward to write about her sexual assault through an open letter addressed to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who was the first woman to make sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
In the letter, which was published in The Washington Post, Chung details how her sexual assault affected her life and why she didn’t report it until much later.
“I, too, was sexually assaulted — not 36 years ago but about 50 years ago. I have kept my dirty little secret to myself. Silence for five decades. The molester was our trusted family doctor,” Chung wrote.
Chung emphasized that while she wasn’t sure of the exact date and year that her assault happened, she was sure who her attacker was and that the assault happened when she went to his home office to ask for forms of contraceptives during her first gynecological examination. After her assault, Chung noted: “I don’t remember saying anything to him. I could not even look at him.”
Like Blasey Ford and many other assault victims, Chung did not report her sexual assault.
“I think I may have told one of my sisters. I certainly did not tell my parents. I did not report him to authorities. It never crossed my mind to protect other women,” she wrote. “Please understand, I was actually embarrassed about my sexual naivete. I was in my 20s and knew nothing about sex. All I wanted to do was bury the incident in my mind and protect my family.”
Chung then explained why she was coming forward to talk about her assault publicly.
“Christine, I, too, am terrified as I reveal this publicly. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. Can you? If you can’t, I understand. I am frightened, I am scared, I can’t even cry…Will my legacy as a television journalist for 30-plus years be relegated to a footnote? Will ‘She Too’ be etched on my tombstone instead? I don’t want to tell the truth. I must tell the truth. As a reporter, the truth has ruled my life, my thinking. It’s what I searched for on a daily working basis. I wish I could forget this truthful event, but I cannot because it is the truth. I am writing to you because I know that exact dates, exact years are insignificant,” she wrote. “We remember exactly what happened to us and who did it to us. We remember the truth forever.”
