'I thought if I kept my eyes on him he won't cut me!' Orange Is The New Black star Kate Mulgrew reveals how she was raped at knife point... and forgives her attacker

Published: 23:30 EST, 17 April 2015 | Updated: 08:42 EST, 18 April 2015

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It is every woman's worst nightmare.

In 1982, Kate Mulgrave was a young woman working towards stardom when she was raped at knife point in her own home.

The now 59-year-old star has revealed how she was not only attacked but how she does not blame the man who did it in her new memoir Born With Teeth.

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Tragic revelation: Kate Mulgrave, seen here last month, has revealed she was raped in New York in 1982

In an except obtained by People, the star recounts how she had just reached the door of her Manhattan apartment after a night out with friends when a man put a knife to her throat and forced her inside.

Very personal: The now 59-year-old star has written about the horrific incident in her new memoir Born With Teeth

The star said the 'young man with a bruise under his left eye and a knife in his right hand' forced her into the foyer.

The actress, who was 26 at the time, gave the stranger her diamond necklace, a diamond ring and $300 cash, which he took and started to leave, before tragically changing his mind.

Describing the ordeal, Kate wrote: 'I saw the shift in his face, I almost wanted to say, ''You don't have to do this.'''

She never said it, but no doubt the man would not have listened.

While she knew she could not physically fight back, the Star Trek star said she still fought back mentally.

'In the rape, I kept my eyes on him and thought, ''If I just keep my eyes on him he won't cut me.'' And he didn't.'

Amazingly, the actress showed amazing strength and was somehow able to forgive the man - who was never caught.

'I never blamed him. It was absolutely impersonal.'

It took time, however: 'I did a lot of stumbling, a lot of staggering, a lot of crying.

'You have to fight your way through. To become embittered because of the fight is to lose the fight. And I have no intention of losing the fight.'

In the very personal memoir, Kate also recounts her 22 year journey to find the daughter she gave up for adoption.

Her partner at the time had suggested she have an abortion but, as a Catholic, she refused and the actress finally found her daughter Danielle in 1999.

Already a star in the making: The actress was 26 at the time and had just finshied Mansions Of America (pictured) when the man forced her into her building at knife point

Speaking of their first talk on the phone Kate told people: 'Time stopped. I remembered the notes dancing in the first light of dawn in the Venetian blinds. There was this voice, unrecognizable, but I knew it was her.'

Danielle, now 37, says her first conversation with her birth mother was rather comical.

'I remember three questions came from her. The first one was, ''Are you pretty?'' And then the second one was, ''Are you happy?'' And then the third one was, ''Do you believe in God?'' That is Kate in a nutshell.'

Carried on: Kate says she forgave the man and did not let the event destroy her so that she could move forward with her life. She now stars as Red in hit show Orange Is The New Black

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