Actress Pinky Cheung details traumatic experience with sexual assault
HONG KONG: More and more stars have found the courage to come forth with their past experiences with sexual harassment following revelations by stars like Vera Lui, Louisa Mak and Sharon Chan.
Pinky Cheung, a rape survivor, bravely shared details about her traumatic experience in a televised interview for TVB’s Scoop.
“I was a teenager, and I met a male coworker at my summer job,” said Pinky. “We went out to dinner. We were not boyfriend and girlfriend, and neither were we the only ones together at the time. I had a female friend with me. He spiked my drink, and when I woke up, I didn’t know what was going on. My ears and body were bleeding.”
Pinky didn’t know what to do. Asked why she didn’t call the police then and there, she said, “I didn’t call the police. I didn’t tell my parents. I thought I was screwed. I felt scared. I did talk about it with my friends, but what else can you do? The only thing I thought I could do at the time was to not see that man anymore.
“Many things would go through your mind,” said Pinky. “If I called the police, wouldn’t that make people laugh at me? Wouldn’t that make people know about it? I would feel ashamed, so I didn’t tell anyone about it. But in the end, the hardest thing for me to do was to face my family.”
In August, a tabloid magazine reported about Pinky’s sexual assault. The report contributed to the gossip of Pinky’s past, and even led to rumours about how Pinky used the incident as a way to promote herself.
Eyes turning red, Pinky admitted that she still cannot find the courage to speak out the words “drug rape” to this day. “To be honest, if you ask me to speak those two words, I’d feel disgusted,” she said. “I still can’t face it. I think I will use the words ‘sexual assault’ to describe it. It’ll make me feel better.”
Even though it has been nearly 30 years, Pinky still struggles to let it go. “I could only close myself to it more and more. It was to the point where it pushed me to depression.”
Asking how she would have handled the situation differently, Pinky immediately said, “I would call the police. At least that would stop him from harming others.”
What advice does Pinky have for fellow survivors? “Forget what’s behind you and work hard to continue forward. Run straight to the pole. You must love yourself.”