Former Bachelorette Katie Thurston has discovered that she was raped — and she is sharing her story to support other victims.
“My agony has reason, my reason has electric power, I want to aim on the beneficial,” she wrote Saturday on Instagram.
The reality star-turned-comedian, who appeared on Year 25 of “The Bachelor” and starred in Season 17 of “The Bachelorette,” defined her decision to make her expertise public, crafting, “The justice procedure proceeds to enable down victims just about every day. I refuse to sense defeated in the power it took to be an advocate for myself. I hope my encounter will assist those experience the toughness and support they have to have.”
The 33-year-previous did not divulge details, such as when she was raped, describing that “while I’m not completely ready to share my tale, I want to share the valuable means that saved my daily life.” Thurston did not specify if this was the same incident she explained on “The Bachelorette” as a “situation wherever there was not consent” that took place about 10 decades prior to the show’s 17th period was taped in 2021.
“I named 911 to report my rape. They despatched an officer to just take my statement and then drove me to a particular clinical middle to carry out a SART test,” she commenced. SART refers to a Sexual Assault Reaction Team, which performs a forensic professional medical exam to accumulate evidence of rape. Thurston stated she was accompanied by a nurse and an advocate, whom she described as “kind,” “nurturing” and “patient” folks who “thoroughly explained the process” and guided her by way of it.
Thurston underwent STD screening, was offered crisis contraception treatment, antibiotics and write-up-publicity drugs to avoid HIV an infection. Her whole treatment, which includes therapy, was presented at “no cost,” irrespective of her insurance policy status, she wrote.
She praised San Diego for their on the web SART assessment tracker, which allowed her to stick to the four-thirty day period development of her exam as it was analyzed and sent to regulation enforcement. Thurston satisfied with an “amazing” sexual assault therapist and connected with an advocate who was readily available to her 24/7.
“I did anything I need to have finished as a victim of rape,” she wrote. “Here are my texts, my phone calls, my photographs, my videos, names, witnesses, areas, social media, time stamps, surveillance footage, DNA, my system.”
Even so, Thurston explained, her scenario was “stopped.” She did not specify why.
“The justice program failed me,” she wrote. “And proceeds to fall short hundreds every one day. But do not give up.”
Thurston, who has also appeared on “Bachelor in Paradise” and “FBoy Island,” took the time to recognize RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest Countrywide Community, which she lifted above $9,000 for in 2023 the California Victims Payment Board, which reimbursed the charge of her medicines and the book “Know My Identify” by Chanel Miller, which she praised for helping her navigate the lawful process and known as a must-examine for “every single teen.”
“Be your major advocate,” she wrote. “You are valued, you are robust, I feel you.”
