ABC/Paula Lobo(LOS ANGELES) — Gabrielle Union has overcome post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after being raped in college, and she’s coming out swinging in a new video meant to inspire people dealing with the same mental problem.
“I’m here to tell you that I am a PTSD survivor, thriver, bad ass MF-er,” Union says in the clip for The Child Mind Institute’s #MyYoungerSelf social media campaign posted on People.com . “I was diagnosed with PTSD at 19 after I was raped at gunpoint — and I didn’t let it stop me. I didn’t want it to define my whole life, and it doesn’t have to. Asking for help, needing help, doesn’t make you weak or less worthy of love or support or success.”
The video is designed to bring awareness to National Mental Health Awareness Month.
The Being Mary Jane star adds, “You can literally be anything you want to be. PTSD isn’t a death sentence. You don’t have to be alone or feel isolated. There are so many of us out there who are dealing with exactly what you’re dealing with and it doesn’t make you weak. It doesn’t make you anything but human.”
She concludes, “And we all have something. And you might even become a successful actress, best-selling author and be dope, cause that’s what you deserve.”
In her recent book, We’re Going to Need More Wine, Union revealed that she was raped at gunpoint while working in a shoe store at the age of 19.
She wrote, “After I was raped, I didn’t leave my house for a whole year unless I had to go to court or to therapy. “Twenty-four years later, fear still influences everything I do.”
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