LAURA: I WAS SEX ASSAULT VICTIM
Sick perv put hand up star’s skirt at nightclub
TV presenter Laura Whitmore has revealed she was the victim of a sexual assault in a nightclub.
The 32-year-old said a laughing stranger stuck his hand up her skirt and touched her while she was out with her boyfriend and some pals last year.
Laura added: “I pushed him away and told him to get his f ***** g hands off me.”
LAURA Whitmore has told how a pervert stranger laughed as he put his hand up her skirt in a club.
The 32-year-old TV presenter recalled the moment the grinning predator violated her in a nightclub while she was out with her boyfriend comedian Iain Stirling.
The broadcaster admitted she initially thought it was the funnyman or a friend touching her leg – but was shocked to discover the random thug was the culprit.
Writing in the new edition of Hot Press magazine, Laura said: “My heart says now is the time to talk about this, probably because personally I feel stronger and in a better position – and on a wider scale, the truth is that we’ve all had enough.
“Last year I was in a club with my friends and I could feel a hand on the back of my leg. Initially I thought it was my boyfriend messing or a mate about to pinch my bottom – but the hand went under my skirt, between my legs, and firmly touched me.
“As I turned, I saw it was a guy who I did not know. He was laughing.
“I pushed him away and told him to get his ‘f ***** g hands off me’. It was dark and I was shocked by what had just happened.
“I couldn’t recognise his face under the strobing lights and, then, he was gone.
“I was a bit tipsy and I was wearing a short skirt. Did I deserve that to happen? I told the manager but what could I do? What was the point?”
Laura, from Bray in Wicklow, blasted the treatment of women compared to men.
FLAWED
She said: “Away from allegations of rape, and flawed judicial systems, what has really hit me is how women are portrayed in general.
“All this shaming and degrading. In a sense, the ‘Me Too’ movement is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Laura also slammed male paparazzi for looking to take “pants shots” of female celebrities, saying that those in the public eye shouldn’t be treated as “playthings”.
She said: “I know that compared to many people I have been fortunate.
“I love this life and I’ve been blessed with wonderful opportunities – but I’ve had enough of being trivialised and gossiped about.
“Women are not playthings – either of men or of the media – and should not be treated as such.”
Laura has been a vocal supporter of the Me Too campaign, opening up about her personal experiences in recent months.
Back in November, she tweeted she had been called a “cold fish” for refusing the advances of someone in the industry.
Months earlier, it was reported Laura was made to feel “incredibly uncomfortable” by shamed movie mogul Harvey Weinstein during a meeting.
A friend of the screen star told The Sun: “For a while Harvey showed a huge interest in Laura, and was offering to really champion her career.
“But after meeting him she couldn’t allow herself to be taken advantage of.
“It was all totally unprofessional. He even asked her whether she had a boyfriend and it made her incredibly uncomfortable.
“She turned him down and walked away.
“But after all this came out, she says she can totally understand why other young women found themselves in very vulnerable positions because he had so much influence.”
■ The new edition of Hot Press is on sale now.