Bachelor star Bekah Martinez has posted a lengthy post after being sexually assaulted while out with her children.
The reality TV personality, who appeared in season 22 of the US show, told her followers she was groped by a teenager while pushing her baby in her pram.
“I was just out taking a walk, looking like this, pushing my sleeping baby and holding hands with my toddler, when a teenager skateboarded by and grabbed my ass,” she wrote.
“I felt totally powerless as I screamed at him ‘THAT IS NOT OKAY. WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?'” Martinez continued. “I wanted to chase him down and pull him off his skateboard. Punch him in the back. Do something, anything to get through to him that what he did was so wrong.”
She said that her two-year-old daughter had been “shaken” by the incident and asked repeatedly if her mother was OK.
“I’m not okay. I’m mad,” Martinez wrote, as she revealed she had suffered a similar experience five years ago.
“I remember being alone on the beach at 21 when a man walked up to me with his d*** in his hand. I felt helpless then, too. I hate this. I hate that this is the world my daughter will grow up in,” she said.
“I don’t care what you have to do to teach your sons to respect the people around them. Threaten to chop their balls off, I don’t give a f***. But I hate knowing that there are predators around every turn, every corner. And the world will always be unsafe for women.”
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Martinez’s post had received more than 80,000 likes the day after she posted it (27 March), at the time of writing. She also received several messages of support from her fellow Bachelor alumni.
“My blood is boiling,” season 19 star Becca Tilley wrote. “I’m so sorry this happened.”
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault or abuse, you can seek confidential support and guidance from The Survivor’s Trust by visiting their website or calling the helpline on 0808 801 0818.
