Singer Alanis Morissette reportedly says in a new documentary that she was a victim of statutory rape and that her attempts to speak up about it "fell on deaf ears."
In the documentary Jagged, which premieres Tuesday at the Toronto International Film Festival, 47-year-old Morissette alleges that multiple men had sex with her when she was 15 years old, The Washington Post reports. The alleged abuse occurred in Canada, where the age of consent was raised from 14 to 16 in 2008.
"It took me years in therapy to even admit there had been any kind of victimization on my part," Morissette reportedly says. "I would always say I was consenting, and then I'd be reminded like 'Hey, you were 15, you're not consenting at 15.' Now I'm like, 'Oh yeah, they're all pedophiles. It's all statutory rape."
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According to the Post, Morissette doesn't name the alleged abusers in the film, but she faults the music industry for ignoring her when she tried to speak up. "I did tell a few people and it kind of fell on deaf ears," she said. "It would usually be a stand-up, walk-out-of-the-room moment." She also reportedly says that she frequently experienced unwanted sexual advances.
Last year, Morissette told The Sunday Times that "almost every woman in the music industry has been assaulted, harassed, raped," and that this is "ubiquitous — more in music, even, than film." She added, though, that women who want to speak out "face the threat of losing their job, reputation, or not being believed." In the documentary, according to the Post, she says she hadn't gone into "specific information" about her experiences because she wanted to "protect my parents, protect my brothers, protect future partners."
