I never in my wildest dreams
thought that my life
would become what it has.
It's beyond what I could have imagined.
I guess I didn't see it
happening in my lifetime.
How does one rise to such an occasion,
when maybe you don't feel that inside?
How does one accept where
life has brought them,
and what it all means?
As a sexual assault survivor
by someone in the entertainment industry,
as a woman who is still not
brave enough to say his name,
as a woman who lives with chronic pain,
as a woman who was conditioned
at a very young age
to listen to what men told me to do,
I decided today, I wanted
to take the power back.
After I was assaulted
when I was 19,
I changed forever.
Part of me shut down for many years.
I didn't tell anyone.
I avoided it myself.
And felt shame even still today.
Standing in front of you,
I feel shame for what happened to me.
I still have days where I
feel like it was my fault.
After I shared what happened to me
with very powerful men in this industry,
nobody helped me.
No one offered me guidance,
or a helping hand,
to lead me to a place
where I felt justice.
They didn't even point me in the direction
of the mental health assistance
I was in dire need of.
I began to hide.
I hid for a long time
until I started to feel physical pain.
Then I had to go to the doctor.
And then I was diagnosed with PTSD
and fibromyalgia.
It's a syndrome
that is essentially a cyclone
of many different conditions
depending on the person,
inducing a stress-induced pain.
Depression, anxiety,
eating disorders, trauma,
these are just a few
examples of the forces
that can lead to this tornado of pain.
I'm fortunate enough now to
have the resources to help me,
but for many, the resources
either don't exist,
or people don't have the ability
to pay for
or access them.
I want to see mental health
become a global priority.
We might not be able, or
we're not able,
to control all of the
challenges and the tragedies
that life throws our way.
And we can also try to find the strength,
in the best way that we can,
to ask for help if we need it.
One in four people in the world
suffer from mental illness.
300 million people suffer from depression,
60 million people live with
bipolar affective disorder,
23 million people are
stricken with schizophrenia,
and 800,000 people die
every year from suicide.
In low and middle income countries,
between 76 and 85% of
people with mental disorders
receive no treatment at all.
In high-income countries,
between 35% and 50% of people
are in the same situation.
the people that you
have in your network,
have the power to turn kindness
into plutonium
and change the world
for both children and adults,
to provide for a better future
and make up in whatever
small way that we can,
microscopic maybe,
for the pain those have
suffered in the past.
We want kids to learn about mental health
and the importance of kindness
at a very young age.
And it is my personal dream
that there would be a mental
health expert, teacher,
or therapist in every
school in this nation,
and hopefully, one day,
around the world.
Whatever our story may be,
I have a platform.
I have a chance
to make a change.
I pray
we listen and believe
and pay closer attention
to those around us,
to those in need.
Be a helping hand.
Be a force for change.
Thank you.
I was an outcast,
and you believed in me,
and I wouldn't be here without you.