Ashley Judd Recalls Shocking Past Sex Abuse She Suffered In Moving Essay Pushing Back At Twitter Trolls
March 20 2015, Updated 10:50 a.m. ET
Ashley Judd, in her ongoing movement against online antagonists, complained of an "overwhelming" number of tweets linked to sex and violence that appear on her feed.
WARNING: Topic Matter Is Graphic
The Kiss the Girls star Thursday posted an essay on mic.com after she received a torrent of nasty feedback after she tweeted about a college basketball game.
After tweeting Sunday that Arkansas was playing dirty against her beloved Kentucky squad, Judd said that "a tsunami of gender-based violence and misogyny flooding my Twitter feed was overwhelming," and that "the volume of hatred that exploded at me in response was staggering."
The 46-year-old beauty got specific, saying that "tweets rolled in, calling me a c*nt, a wh*re or a b*tch" and that "some even threatened rape, or ‘anal anal anal.'"
The stunning actress -- who earlier this week told MSNBC she might seek legal avenues against the nasty Twitter trolls -- said she's trying to bring awareness to "the ripe dangers that invariably accompany being a woman and having an opinion about sports or, frankly, anything else" on social media.
"What happened to me is the devastating social norm experienced by millions of girls and women on the Internet," Judd said. "Online harassers use the slightest excuse (or no excuse at all) to dismember our personhood.
"My tweet was simply the convenient delivery system for a rage toward women that lurks perpetually."
Judd pointed back to her personal experiences, noting that as "a survivor of sexual assault, rape and incest" who's been through recovery, she takes it as a responsibility to assist "others who are still hurting, and perhaps to offer a piece of education, awareness and action to our world."
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Delving deep into her tragic past, the politically-active celeb recalled how she was raped twice 31 years ago, and how a number of recent happenings -- including the Vanderbilt rape case, the Justice for Victims of Sex Trafficking legislation and the Department of Justice's legal definition of rape -- lit a fire under her to spread awareness to help survivors of sexual assault.
Judd then recalled how "the very next day" after a productive therapy session, she "received a disturbing tweet with a close-up photograph of my face behind text that read, 'I can't wait to c*m all over your face and in your mouth.'
"The timing was canny, and I knew it was a crime -- it was time to call the police, and to say to the Twittersphere, no more."
Judd encouraged fans to join her in her movement against abusive and violent social media slurs aimed at women.