Actress Annalynne Mccord has opened up about her sexual assault hell revealing she was raped by someone she knew when she was 18.

The former 90210 star has only briefly spoken about her ordeal in the past, but McCord now insists she is "done staying quiet" and has detailed the attack in an essay for Cosmopolitan.com.

In the piece she recalls a homeless "guy friend" asked her if he could spend the night at her house, so he could feel refreshed for a business meeting the following morning, but her generosity led to the worst few hours of her life.

She says, "He'd been crashing on someone's couch. I had known him for some time, so I said to come over and I set him up with a clean towel. We sat on the bed and talked for a while, then I fell asleep. When I woke up, he was inside me.

"At first, I felt so disoriented and numb, I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep... I just wanted it to be over... I said, 'Please, don't!' He stopped and went in the bathroom and finished. I lay there and stared at the ceiling for the rest of the night, frozen.

"At dawn, I wrote a note to him and left. I sat outside in a car and waited for him to leave. When he did, I went back inside, took a shower, and pretended it hadn't happened."

The 26 year old didn't tell anyone about the rape ordeal until she ran into her attacker a few months later.

She continues, "We were at a club, and he cornered me, wanting to talk. I said, 'You know what happened'. He said, 'What are you saying? What we had that night was beautiful.'

"Later, a male friend told me my attacker was going around claiming I was in love with him. Finally, something in me snapped."

While the actress is relieved to get the secret off her chest, she admits she still struggles with what happened to her and even considered suicide.

She adds, "I had pills and water in (my) hand and thought seriously about killing myself. I didn't fear death - it felt like a solution..."

However, McCord has since signed up for therapy sessions and now works with organizations that rescue girls from sexual slavery.

She concludes, "I have my message for women and girls: 'You have a voice. Don't put yourself in a box. Don't let the polite lies of society silence you'. Honestly, I would endure everything all over again - it has led me to my own revolution."