Ellen DeGeneres opens up to David Letterman about her childhood sexual abuse

Ellen DeGeneres is opening up about being sexually abused by her stepfather as a teenager, saying she hopes to empower young girls to speak out.

DeGeneres spoke to David Letterman for an episode of his Netflix talk show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, which will be released on Friday. In it, she describes her stepfather sexually assaulting her when she was 15 or 16 years old.

“He told me ... that he'd felt a lump in [my mom's] breast and needed to feel my breasts because he didn't want to upset her, but he needed to feel mine," DeGeneres says, Yahoo reports. "...He convinced me that he needs to feel my breasts and then he tries to do it again another time, and then another time."

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DeGeneres went on to say that when her stepfather tried to come into her room, she "kicked the window out and ran." But she says that she didn't tell her mother because "I was protecting her and I knew that would ruin her happiness." This is something she now regrets, saying, "I should never have protected her — I should have protected myself." When she did eventually speak up, DeGeneres says at first her mother didn't believe her.

The talk show host also said that the only reason she's detailing this "really horrible, horrible" story is that "I want other girls to not ever let someone do that," adding "it angers me when victims aren't believed, because we just don't make stuff up," The Wrap reports.

DeGeneres spoke with Today in October 2018, after Christine Blasey Ford's testimony against then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, about being the victim of sexual abuse, saying she is "furious" at people who don't believe survivors. She also said on Ellen that "if anything, before I stop doing this show someday, I hope that I'm empowering women. We just have to not be quiet anymore."