CANNES, France - Pamela Anderson has previously talked
about being a survivor of rape, but in an emotional speech for her new charity,
she credits animals with helping her survive years of abuse at the hands of
others.
Anderson was in Cannes to launch the Pamela Anderson
Foundation, dedicated to boosting human rights, helping animals and the
environment. At a yacht reception to inaugurate the charity, the actress went
into detail about sexual assaults she says she endured from a young age.
"I did not have an easy childhood. Despite loving
parents, I was molested from age 6 to 10 by my female babysitter. I went to a
friend's boyfriend's house and when she was busy the boyfriend's older brother
decided he would teach me backgammon which led in to a back massage, which led
in to rape. My first heterosexual experience. He was 25 years old, I was
12," said Anderson, reading nervously from a sheet of paper at Friday
evening's event.
The assaults didn't end there, she said: "My first
boyfriend in grade nine decided it would be funny to gang rape me with six of
his friends. Needless to say I had a hard time trusting humans and I just
wanted off this earth."
"My parents tried to keep me safe. But to me the
world was not a safe place. My dad an alcoholic, my mom worked two jobs
waitressing. My mom was always crying, dad didn't always come home, leaving us
in tremendous pain and worry. I couldn't bear to give her more disruptive
information so I couldn't break her heart any more than it was breaking," she
added.
She credits animals and nature for giving her hope to
live.
"My affinity with animals saved me, they came to me
naturally. The trees spoke to me, I wasn't sure why I was alive, a burning
question, a quest. My loyalty remains with the animal kingdom. I vowed to
protect them and only them," she said. "I prayed to whales with my
feet in the ocean, my only real friends until I had children. Then I realized
humanity was suffering and our children were born perfect."
The Pamela Anderson Foundation's mission is to provide
funding for groups and individuals "on the front lines of human rights,
animal rights and environmental protection," according to its mission
statement.
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