Jodie Sweetin Shares Powerful Post About Her Own Sexual Assault

Jodie Sweetin says she was sexually assaulted as a young girl

Jodie Sweetin, lovingly known as Stephanie Tanner on Fuller House, has shared her support of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and opened up about her own sexual assault in an emotional Instagram post. The first sexual assault Sweetin describes occurred when she was a young girl, presumably during her time as a cast member of Full House.

After watching Dr. Ford’s testimony yesterday, Sweetin felt compelled to share a message to her fans about her experience and her feelings. “I stand with her. I AM her. I was the girl who never reported because I blamed myself. I was the woman who never reported because I didn’t want to go through the pain and ridicule,” she writes.

The caption accompanies a photo of Sweetin wearing a jacket that says, “What doesn’t kill you f*cks you up mentally” on the back. Now listen up, Full House fans, because Stephanie Tanner is speaking.

“The same sort of pain that I witnessed Dr. Christine Blasey Ford walk through today,” she says. She writes that we witnessed a survivor of sexual assault being persecuted, judged, and re-traumatized for coming forward — which is why so many women refrain from doing so.

“We are told that if it were ‘real,’ we would have reported it at the time,” Sweetin continues. “Often when we were merely children or young girls.” She lists the troubling, familiar reason why she and other young girls who have been assaulted don’t speak up: fear. Fear of retaliation, fear of becoming a social pariah, fear of not being believed.

“And as we grew older and it happened again, we had been trained to remain silent,” she explains. “We had learned the lesson that no one will believe us. That even if someone DOES, it holds no consequence. We had watched other women come forward, only to be told ‘there were no witnesses, so it’s your word against his,’ knowing that ‘his’ story is always more believed than ‘hers.'”

Sweetin says her decision to share her story isn’t politically motivated. “This is about a panel of people brushing aside someone’s trauma. I will not sit still. I will not stay quiet.” Plenty of fellow survivors and have shared words of encouragement on Sweetin’s post, but one supporter in particular nabbed me directly in my feelings:

[Insert infinity sobbing emojis here.]

Sweetin concludes her post by again thanking Dr. Ford for her bravery and patriotism. “Although I may never be as brave or as unflinching in the face of such an inquisition as she was today, it has given me hope. That maybe, just maybe, female survivors of sexual assault may be heard. Even if our voice is barely above a whisper. #imwithher#listentoyourwomen #tellyourtruth #ihearyou“