Katie Knowles, the wife of TV presenter Nick Knowles, has shared a deeply personal account of abuse she suffered at the hands of her father in a candid new video.
The 35-year-old took to Instagram on Saturday to speak openly for the first time about the trauma she says she endured as a child, revealing that she was sexually abused by her father over a prolonged period.
Until now, she had only ever hinted at a ‘difficult’ relationship with him, and had not publicly disclosed the extent of her experience. Her father died when she was 18.
She said: ‘I was raped by my dad for years, years and years.’
She continued: ‘There are times when it comes up but I have had a lot of therapy to get to be being as balanced as I can be about it now, and can be is the important bit.
‘Things like this, if you know a woman, if you are a woman, if you’re a mother to women, just anything, any affiliation with women, I think we should be worried looking at the news.
‘Looking at the it’s not all men, but it is. It is men. It is men who commit the majority of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
‘In my case it was a man. It’s almost always in sexual abuse like that, someone that you know or a family member or a partner, or an ex-partner. Almost always.’
In the video, recorded while sitting in her car, Katie explained that she had previously only discussed the abuse with close friends and family.
Katie said her mood had been affected in recent days after reading an investigation by CNN into an online network where men allegedly share tactics for drugging and assaulting women, often within relationships.
Recalling a recent trip to the gym, she spoke about the heightened awareness many women experience in public spaces.
She described walking back to her car with her keys gripped tightly in her hand, conscious of her surroundings and how she might be perceived.
She added that women should not have to feel this level of concern in their daily lives, describing it as a ‘terrifying’ reality that continues to shape behaviour and decision-making.
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