The former ‘Bachelorette’ star opened up about the sexual abuse she suffered as a child.<\/b>
\nGetty\t Clare Crawley of The Bachelorette. Clare Crawley opened up about her experience with sexual abuse as a child. During an interview on \u201cRed Table Talk: The Estefans,\u201d the former \u201c Bachelorette\u201d star revealed that a counselor at the Catholic school she attended sexually molested her. \u201cI don\u2019t think there was any counseling that was done,\u201d Crawley said of the school employee. \u201cIt was a one-on-one time to be a predator.\u201d In the interview, Crawley revealed to \u201cRed Table Talk\u201d hosts Gloria, Emily, and Lili Estefan that the abusive \u201ccounselor\u201d was also a priest. \u201cI grew up going to a Catholic school and I was the victim of a predator,\u201d the Sacramento native said in the interview, per Us Weekly. \u201cMy parents looked at Catholic priests as \u2014 they held them on a pedestal.\u201d She added that religion was \u201cvery deep\u201d in her family\u2019s roots and that her parents \u201cdid the best they could and reached out for the resources they could at the time and sent me to this priest.\u201d Crawley, who held on to her secret for years, also said that predators \u201cbank\u201d on their victims staying \u201csilent.\u201d \u201cThese predators bank on us not saying anything and not opening our mouth and that gives them that power,\u201d she said in the interview, per Hollywood Life. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why after 39 years, instead of letting it affect me negatively I thought, how do I take the power back? Because for so long the weight I was carrying was unworthiness, embarrassment, feeling not worthy of the church standing up for me. And now I thought, you know what, this is not my burden to carry anymore.\u201d Crawley added that instead of carrying shame, what she recently decided to carry was \u201cbeing a survivor.\u201d A post shared by Clare Crawley (@clarecrawley) In an Instagram post shared earlier this year, Crawley revealed that as a child of sexual abuse, her \u201cyoung adult years were spent in unhealthy relationships feeling unworthy of the good ones.\u201d She admitted that she never felt that she was good enough for the men in her life. Even on \u2018The Bachelor,\u201d viewers saw the leading man \u2013 Juan Pablo Galavis \u2013 disrespect Crawley. According to the Sun, Galavais whispered an obscene comment in Crawley\u2019s ear after one of their dates. \u201cI\u2019m shocked,\u201d Crawly said at the time. \u201cHe chose to tell me something that no woman wants to hear. That he doesn\u2019t know me and some sexual thing I don\u2019t want to repeat.\u201d Crawley famously told Galavis off on the season finale of his season of the ABC dating show, per E! News. In 2020, Crawley appeared on the \u201cBachelor Happy Hour\u201d podcast and revealed that she had just gotten out of a \u201creally, really abusive relationship\u201d before she appeared as a contestant on Galavis\u2019 season of \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d in 2014. She also opened up about breaking free from the shame of childhood sexual abuse as an adult. \u201cIt\u2019s been something that I\u2019ve hidden for so many years, but until I\u2019ve owned that part of my life and looked at the stuff I\u2019ve been through not as shame, but to look at it as my superpower, and these are the things that have made the woman that I am today,\u201d she said. While she hid her childhood traumas for years, Crawley said she now yearns for someone to \u201clove\u201d her for all of \u201cthe hard stuff\u201d that she has been through. Crawley\u2019s \u2018Red Table Talk\u201d tell-all comes amid rumors that she recently split from her \u201cBachelorette\u201d fiance, Dale Moss. If you have been a victim of sexual abuse or know someone who needs help, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE or visit rainn.org. READ NEXT: Clare Crawley Reveals Why She\u2019s Moving Unlock the latest Bachelor news, rumors and exclusives \u2014 direct to your inbox. \u2193<\/p>\n