Bachelorette Katie Thurston creates support group for sexual assault survivors after sharing her past trauma
KATIE Thurston has revealed she created a support group for sexual assault survivors after sharing her own past trauma.
The star, 30, talked about during a devastating episode of the ABC show in June.
And on Tuesday, explained that she has made a private group on Facebook for sexual assault survivors.
The reality star opened up about it on her Instagram Stories after fans mistakenly thought the account she used to create the group was fake.
She wrote: "Occasionally I get messages concerned about a fake FB account posing as me.
"This is my account I created in order to create an FB group supporting sexual assault survivors."
ONLINE SUPPORT
Katie added a screenshot of the group's homepage, which is called "C.A.L.M" and stands for "Creating a Lovely Masterpiece".
The private page currently has 3,800 members.
Katie opened up being sexually assaulted a decade ago during a group date with several of her Bachelorette suitors in June.
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She said: “I know you all know me as this sex-positive person now.
“But she wasn't always here. 10 years ago at a New Years Eve party, I was drinking and I was involved in a situation where I did not give consent. And I do not wish that upon anybody.
“And I was in denial about what happened, so much so that I tried to form a relationship with him.
“So for awhile, I did not have a good relationship with sex. I didn’t even want to talk about it. But it wasn’t my fault.”
PAST ORDEAL
The ABC lead also spoke about her ordeal during an appearance on the , admitting that she'd previously felt too "ashamed" to tell people.
“You feel ashamed, you feel dirty, you feel like it's your fault. I have two girlfriends who know about it - that’s it,” she said.
She said her experience ended up causing a “domino effect,” and she started “forcing” herself to have sex.
“I had to really learn how to have a healthy relationship with sex, but also how to communicate with your partner,” Katie explained.
“It took a lot of time and a lot of failed relationships that were centered around sex being an issue,” she said, adding that she made a change in the last three years.
“I finally was very firm in my decision that, if I didn’t want to have sex, I said no and I meant it. That was probably the first step.”
TELLING FAMILY
The reality star said that the "hardest part" was having to tell her mom about the assault.
“She feels bad that she wasn’t there for me in that moment and didn’t recognize signs and wasn’t a safe space for me to go to," Katie recalled.
"She got emotional over it," she added, saying her mom opened up about her own story".
Meanwhile, earlier this week Katie and frontrunner Greg Grippo's romance came to a nasty end as he .
Despite making a strong connection from the very first night - with , 28, receiving her first impression rose - on Monday night their .
Greg after becoming upset by Katie's "surface level reactions" to him confessing his love for her.
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Sources exclusively told The Sun that Katie if they'd made up after their fight.
However, the informant claimed: “Katie said if he never acted that way and they resolved their issues, they probably would’ve ended up engaged.
“She really thought he was the one at one point and thought at one point he’d be the one proposing at the end.
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“There was in a little bit of shock watching it back because it was so jarring to her in the moment and she became so heartbroken.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network) at 800-656-HOPE (4673).
