LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12 (UPI) — Minnie Driver has shared a personal story of how she was physically assaulted by a stranger when she was 17 years old.
“I was on vacation in Greece, and this guy kinda elbow-grabbed me, and said, ‘You’re going to dance with me,”’ Driver detailed Tuesday while appearing on SiriusXM’s Stand UP! with Pete Dominick.
“I said ‘no’ and I pulled my arm away from him, and he grabbed me by the back of my hair. I tried to kick him, and then he punched me,” the actresses, now 46, continued.
According to Driver, when police arrived, they put the blame on her for being attacked due to denying the man a dance.
“They’re like, ‘Sure if you want to come back to Athens and press charges,’ but the way they presented it was, this guy was just having a good time and if you’d gone along with it, it would have been fine,” the Oscar nominee said. “If you’d just danced with him, you wouldn’t be in this position that you’re in now. And I think that’s the way it’s framed for most young women.”
Then Driver related the experience to how young women feel in similar situations. “When you’re 17, 18, you’re going out, the idea of unwanted male attention is something that you’re supposed to put up with because it is somehow your role that a guy can come and touch you,” she explained.
“He can put his hand way too far down the small of your back so that his hand is kind of going into your butt and that that’s alright. That you can be shepherded, herded, touched, mauled. I think young women have been belittled when they’ve said something. I remember getting called a ‘prude.'”
Driver’s story comes days after actress Amber Tamblyn shared a sexual assault story on social media where she detailed how an ex boyfriend forcefully grabbed and groped her. The recount also took aim at presidential nominee Donald Trump who has been under fire for uncovered comments he made about grabbing women.
