Connect with us

Celebrity

Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I was raped at 17


Sophie Ellis-Bextor claims she was raped as a teenager by an older man.

The ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ made the heartbreaking claim that she was raped at the age of 17 and lost her virginity to the unnamed man, who was 29 at the time, in an extract from her new book.

She was invited into his flat after meeting at a gig. She was studying history for A-Level at the time and the man said he’d show her his study books, but things soon progressed.

She recalls: “Jim and I started kissing and before I knew it we were on his bed and he took off my knickers. I heard myself saying ‘No’ and ‘I don’t want to’, but it didn’t make any difference.

“He didn’t listen to me and he had sex with me and I felt so ashamed. It was how I lost my virginity and I felt stupid. I remember staring at Jim’s bookcases and thinking: I just have to let this happen now.”

Sophie insisted he was never “violent” with her, but she wants her voice to be heard now, 25 years on.

She added: “My experience was not violent. All that happened was I wasn’t listened to. Of the two people there, one said yes, the other said no, and the yes person did it anyway. The older I’ve become, the more stark that 29-year-old man ignoring 17-year-old me has seemed.”

Sophie has no plans to “name and shame” her alleged rapist.

In an extract of her autobiography Spinning Plates, as shared with the Mail on Sunday, she said defiantly: “I’ve asked myself why it’s important to write about these experiences. Why go over something that wasn’t very pleasant? Why make it public?

“But I think if you experience something you know is wrong, then being brave and honest about it helps, and if anyone else has been through something similar, it might help us all talk about it.

“But that’s not all. It’s also because I was silent about it for so long. It started to feel like I’m being complicit. I wasn’t heard when I was 17, but I think I’ll be heard now.”

Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending

Hottest Galleries

Follow Us on Facebook

Don’t Miss

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.