Recounting Her ‘Horrible’ Sexual Abuse, Ellen DeGeneres Says Her Stepfather Groped Her When She Was 15

In India, a child is abused every 15 minutes, according to the latest statistics. Just imagine the horror the little kids go through. Some of us, in fact, have been in such a position in the past, and it’s simply sad.

And so had American comedian, television host and actress Ellen DeGeneres. She was sexually abused her own stepfather, she revealed in David Letterman's Netflix show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. She was just “15 or 16” then.

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Ellen said that it was important for her to share this story because she wants the young girls to not go through what she went through.

“It's a really horrible, horrible story and the only reason I'm actually going to go into detail about it is because I want other girls to not ever let someone do that.”

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The abuse started after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her stepfather, who is no more now, first assaulted her when her mother was out of town.

“He told me... 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, because I didn't know about bodies. I don't know that breasts are all different.

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“Anyway, he convinced me that he needs to feel my breasts and then he tries to do it again another time, and then another time he tries to break my door down and I kicked the window out and ran 'cause I knew it was going to go more to something.”

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For a long time, Ellen said, she didn’t tell her mother. But when she did, her mother refused to believe her.

“I should never have protected her. I should've protected myself, and I didn't tell her for a few years and then I told her, and then she didn't believe me and then she stayed with him for 18 more years.”

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Her mother finally left her stepfather after he changed his version of the story many times. By speaking up about her story, Ellen said, she wants to inspire the young girls to speak at the right time and not be afraid.

“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.”

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And now, when victims speak up about their sexual misconduct encounters and they are not believed, Ellen says, she feels angry.

“When I see people speaking out, especially now, it angers me when victims aren't believed, because we just don't make stuff up. And I like men, but there are so many men that get away with so much.”

It was in 1997 that Ellen DeGeneres had come out as a gay. In 2005, in an interview to Allure, she had first opened up about her sexual abuse story.