Ellen DeGeneres opens up on being sexually abused by her stepfather

Ellen Lee DeGeneres, US comedian and television host, says she was sexually assaulted by her mother’s former husband when she was a teenager.

The 61-year-old actress and writer brought this revelation to light on a season two episode of ‘My Next Guest Needs No Introduction‘, a Netflix show anchored by David Letterman.

According to E-Online, the abuse happened at a time when the comedian’s mother was battling with breast cancer and away from home.

“He told me when (my mom) was out of town that he’d felt a lump in her breast and needed to feel my breasts, Anyway, he convinced me that he needs to feel my breasts and then he tries to do it again another time, ” DeGeneres recounted.

“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.”

On the episode, airing on May 31, the TV host said in a bid to protect her mother, she kept the assault a secret and only told her a couple of years after the occurrence.

“I should never have protected [my mother]. I should have protected myself and I didn’t tell her for a few years, and then I told her,” she said.

“And then she didn’t believe me, and then she stayed with him for 18 more years and finally left him because he’d changed the story so many times.”

Ellen DeGeneres added that she is sharing her story to encourage women and girls to courageously fight sexual abuse.

“I’m angry at myself because, you know, I didn’t, I was too weak to stand up to, I was 15 or 16. 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,” DeGeneres said.