Ashley Judd has previously spoken about being a three-time rape survivor, but sent shockwaves in a new interview after she revealed she sat face-to-face with her alleged rapist.
On the “Healing with David Kessler” podcast, Judd called this interaction a “restorative justice conversation” and admitted to intentionally putting effort into tracking down one of her rapists. “I tried to find him, and then he sort of surfaced very easily and to make a long story short, we ended up in rocking chairs sitting by a creek together,” Judd said in the podcast. “And I said, ‘I’m very interested in hearing the story you’ve carried all these years.’ And we had a restorative-justice conversation about that.”
Ashley Judd Says She Met with Man Who Raped Her to Have a ‘Restorative Justice Conversation’ pic.twitter.com/Ns2azpToj8
— People (@people) July 26, 2022
Judd made it abundantly clear to both listeners and to her alleged rapist, that she “didn’t need his cooperation” or “for him to make amends” in order to find her own sense of closure and inner peace. Judd expressed to her fans that she had done her own “trauma work” and “healing work,” and explained that she had already come to terms with what had happened to her well before she sat down with her alleged rapist, according to the podcast.
“When a man raped me in 1999, it was crazy-making because I knew better, I was very clear, my boundaries were intact, I was already an empowered, adult feminist woman,” Judd said in the podcast. (RELATED: Alleged Rapist Was Totally Nude During Court Appearance For About 16 Seconds Before An Officer Intervened)
“We ended up in rocking chairs sitting by a creek together …” (via @toofab)https://t.co/nH4fUIRHtQ
— TMZ (@TMZ) July 26, 2022
She also explained her emotional connection to that moment in time which she will forever carry with her.
“And that this could happen under these circumstances was unconscionable, unforeseen, and yet I have had a restorative justice process with this person out of how replete my soul is today,” Judd said.
“I just kind of wanted to share that story because there are many ways of healing from grief. And it’s important to remind listeners that I didn’t need anything from him, and it was just gravy that he made his amends and expressed his deep remorse,” she said.