'I had a lot of therapy': Buffy The Vampire Slayer star Charisma Carpenter reveals how she recovered from rape ordeal when she was 21
She rose to fame battling demons on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spin-off show, Angel.
And Charisma Carpenter has faced evil during her own lifetime – attacked by a serial rapist in 1991 when she was only 21.
The 44-year-old actress opened up again about the incident, telling Toofab, 'I had a lot of therapy,' in order to heal from the stress of the traumatic event.
True confessions: Charisma Carpenter, pictured in LA in June 2013, opened up again in a new interview about her attack by a serial rapist in 1991
Last year, her story of survival kicked off season one of the
Investigation Discovery series, Surviving Evil. Charisma hosts the show, whose second season debuts Wednesday night.
She
described what it was like to watch the incident re-enacted on
television: ‘There’s been so much time since the event and a lot of
healing has taken place.
‘And I was very determined to take good care of myself so I had a lot of therapy and I have a wonderful family for great support, so it wasn’t jarring or hard to watch.’
Over 20 years ago, Charisma was swimming at a beach in San Diego, when a masked man approached and threatened her with a gun.
It then became clear he intended to have her tie up her two male friends before raping her.
One
of Charisma’s friends managed to break free of the binding and attack
their assailant, though he was shot in the chest while their other
friend was shot in the stomach.
Their assailant, Henry Hubbard Jr., fled after he was shot in the hand, but was eventually caught and sentenced to 56 years in jail. He plead guilty to eight violent sexual assaults and two attempted murders.
Mother son bonding: The 44-year-old actress pictured with her 11-year-old son Donovan in LA in May 2013; he approached his mom about her incident when someone at school saw the story aired and asked him about it
Charisma
describes the reaction to the story as ‘incredibly positive,’ while her
connection with her fans has ‘gone to a whole other level.’
She
added: ‘When you share something personal and intense, people are less
inclined to think of you as a celebrity and more of a human being.’
Charisma
kept silent about her story for a long time before finally deciding to
open up via Surviving Evil, with the intent to empower and inspire.
The mother-of-one also had to talk about it with her 11-year-old son with husband Damien Hardy, Donovan.
‘He came to me with it because somebody at school came to him with it,’ she said. ‘They had seen the episode and I remember thinking “What parent let their kid watch Surviving Evil?”
‘It's after bedtime, it's during the week and it's really not meant for that demographic. But we talked about it and I said, “It can be a dangerous world and that's why mommy is very protective of you.”’
Charisma previously told Metro that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the incident.
Breakout role: Charisma starred as Cordelia Carpenter in Buffy The Vampire Slayer from 1996 to 1999, before leaving to star in the spin-off show Angel from 1999 to 2004
‘I had anxiety and panic attacks. I’d wake up in the middle of the night feeling afraid,’ she said.
However, she didn’t deal with it at all for three years.
‘I
just put one foot in front of the other,’ Charisma said. ‘Eventually I
had counselling, which was life-saving. I was emotionally broken.
‘I have a good life today and a lot of that is down to counselling – it gave me strength.’
However, she suffered from paranoia while working on the TV show Angel, which she starred in from 1999 to 2004.
‘I’d go to work at 4am and would have to leave my house to get to my car in the middle of the night,’ she said.
'I'd have to talk myself down from the panic that would set in that came from thinking someone would attack me.'
Charisma added: ‘I’ve had so many blessings and bigger and better things have happened to me that have overshadowed that night. You can have a good life even after something terrible has happened to you.’
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