Ellen DeGeneres says her stepfather was 'a very bad man'
Ellen DeGeneres stars in the latest series of David Letterman's Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.
E! News reports that in the episode she opens up about her mother remarrying the man who sexually assaulted her as a teen.
'I'm angry at myself because... I was too weak to stand up - I was 15 or 16 and...'
'I mean, it's a really horrible, horrible story and the only reason I'm actually gonna go into detail about it is because I want other girls to not, you know, ever let someone do that.'
The talk show host explains that her mother got breast cancer shortly after the marriage.
'So she had a breast removed, and they had a very, very sexual relationship, which was also very uncomfortable for me.'
'He told me when she was out of town that he'd felt a lump in her breast and needed to feel my breasts because he didn't want to upset her, but he needed to feel mine.'
'Again, 'cause I didn't know about bodies, I don't know that breasts are all different and... anyway, he convinced me that he needs to feel my breasts and then he tries to do it again another time....'
Her stepfather broke down her door
'Another time, he tried to break my door down, and I kicked the window out and ran 'cause I knew it was gonna do – it was gonna go more to something.'
'And I didn't want to tell my mother, 'cause I was protecting her and I knew that that would ruin her happiness.'
The comedian admits her mother was very happy with him and she didn't want to take that away from her.
This however, is something she seems to regret, 'I should have protected myself.'
'I didn't tell her for a few years, and then I told her. And then she didn't believe me. Then she stayed with him for 18 more years. And finally left him because he'd changed the story so many times.'
Women don't feel like they have a voice
Ellen says she never spoke out about this experience because women feel like they don't have a voice.
'That's the only reason that this is the first time I've ever talked about this to anyone other than my friends.'
'We just don't feel like we're worthy, or we're scared to have a voice and we're scared to say 'no.''
'That first time, he really convinced me that he didn't want to upset her, and he really felt another lump, and he really would just like... and then when I didn't let him the next time, you know, it just... he just kept taunting me and pretending like he was coming at me all the time.'
'That's the only reason I think it's important to talk about it because there's so many young girls, and it doesn't matter how old you are, and when I see people speaking out, especially now, it angers me when victims aren't believed because we just don't make stuff up.'
'I like men, but there are so many men that get away with so much. It is just time for us to have a voice. It's time for us to have power.'
Season two of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction is out on the 31st of May on Netflix.
