MSNBC Pundit Makes Harrowing Confession In Wake Of Penn State

MSNBC pundit Goldie Taylor shared her own story of sexual abuse on Monday’s “Last Word,” in response to the child abuse scandal at Penn State.

Taylor had tweeted about the scandal earlier, saying that she felt “ashamed that I never had the courage to tell my own story.” She continued to share more details of her story on Twitter.

She named her abuser on her blog on Sunday.

Speaking to Lawrence O’Donnell on Tuesday, she called the allegations against Jerry Sandusky “deplorable” and “unthinkably evil.” She said that her anger over the cover-up at Penn State prompted her to finally speak up about her own experience.

She said, “If I’m angry that adults did not speak out then, then why am I not angry at myself for not telling my story and helping young women like me combat predators who are in our high schools and middle schools?”

She swallowed and teared up as she recounted her experience. “In my case, it was a
high school football coach. I was a varsity cheerleader in Missouri. There were other women like me and i knew it at the time. In my own fear of being blamed and shamed — even as a growing person, as an adult, a mother of children now, — I felt like i had no safe harbor to tell it.”

She recalled that she dropped out of cheerleading, debate and eventually high school. She has learned that her abuser is still coaching girls’ track. Now, she says she is heading back to St. Louis for the first time in many years to tell her story and take legal action.

WATCH (h/t Mediaite):

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy