James Van Der Beek Steps Forward With His Own Story Of Sexual Abuse Amid Harvey Weinstein Scandal
As more and more women in Hollywood are coming forward to share their stories of sexual abuse and harassment from Harvey Weinstein, some male actors are stepping up to share their own stories of sexual abuse in Hollywood. James Van Der Beek is the most recent man to share his story, following in the footsteps of Terry Crews. The Dawson’s Creek actor shared his experience on Twitter yesterday, shocking fans everywhere.
Van Der Beek started his seven-tweet streak by defending women who are being bashed for not stepping forward after a sexual assault or harassment. He also expresses disdain for the whole “boys being boys” phrase that’s being thrown around too much in wake of this scandal.
He follows that tweet up by addressing Weinstein directly. He explains what he has done is unacceptable and criminal. By his third tweet, he admits that he has had encounters with powerful men who sexually assaulted him and engaged in inappropriate conversations when he was a young man. Van Der Beek doesn’t name a specific age when this harassment occurred, but it should be noted he began acting at age 16.
After admitting to the abuse, he explains to his followers the shame that victims feel after being put in a situation like that and how hard it was for him to step forward and say what happened to him. Within minutes of his tweet streak, fans were speculating about the identity of Van Der Beek’s abuser. With names being thrown out, James again stepped up to clarify to prevent wrongful accusations.
He explained that these men were people none of us would know, but he did mention that there were three of them. He said two of these men have been charged and received punishment, and the other man has died since then. Van Der Beek then apologized to the remarkable men in his life who may have been judged based on his earlier tweets. He then asked his Twitter followers to not call out individuals without cause.
People pointed out the similarities between Van Der Beek and Terry Crews’ own story on Twitter a few days ago. The Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor said the Harvey Weinstein scandal was giving him PTSD and also shared his heartbreaking story with his followers.
Since the Weinstein scandal broke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Beckinsale, Rose McGowan, Angelina Jolie, Asia Argento, Rosanna Arquette, and Ashley Judd are among the large group of women who had been sexually abused or harassed by the ex-Miramax executive.
[Featured Image by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images]
