Wood was afraid to tell her sexual abuse story

Actor Evan Rachel Wood says she was afraid to tell her sexual abuse experience, but she pushed herself to open up about it.

Earlier this year, the actor shared her domestic violence and sexual abuse experience with the House Judiciary Committee as part of an effort to secure a bill of rights for sexual assault survivors in the US.

"Amanda Nguyen, who wrote the Bill contacted me, just as a fellow survivor, and reached out. She said,'We have passed this on a federal level, but it still has to be implemented in all states, and we need to bring more awareness to it'," Wood said.

"And I was like, 'Well, I have really only told my story to about five people, I can count on one hand, so to go from that to everyone, to the world knowing, it was overwhelming. I don't know a world in which everyone knows this about me, and it was terrifying to think about what that would mean, and what people would think. But, the fact that I was so afraid to tell my story, and ashamed, just made me want to do it more, because I felt like that it was wrong, and I shouldn't feel like that, so I said yes," added the actor.