“The attention and judgment I received ... was unprecedented. I was branded as a tramp, tart, slut, whore, bimbo. And of course ‘that woman.’ I was seen by many but actually known by few.”
The experience broke her.
“In 1998 I lost my reputation and my dignity. I lost almost everything. And I almost lost my life.”
While she didn’t attempt suicide, she thought about it. Her mother sat by her bed every night, made her shower with the bathroom door open. “Both of my parents feared that I would be humiliated to death, literally.”