Julianne Hough wants to establish foundation for victims of child abuse
Singer/actress Julianne Hough is planning to launch her own charity to help girls like herself who have suffered abuse as a child.
The Footloose star has gone public with her traumatising childhood secret in a new interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, revealing she was taken advantage of by adults while she was a dance student in Britain.
She tells the publication, "I was 10 years old looking like I was
28, being a very sensual dancer. I was a tormented little kid who
had to put on this sexy facade because that was my job and my life.
But my heart was the same, and I was this innocent little girl. I
wanted so much love.
"While I was in London, I was abused, mentally, physically,
everything... (It got worse) when I started hitting puberty, when I
started becoming a woman and stopped being a little girl."
Hough reveals her troubled past has inspired her to step up her
work with non-profit anti-bullying organization the Kind Campaign,
and she's in the process of establishing her own foundation too to
lend advice and support to her fellow child abuse victims.
She tells America's Cosmopolitan magazine, "I don't want pity. To
me, it's more about being that voice for people who don't
necessarily have a voice... It's important because there are a lot
of girls who have gone through so much s**t and sexual abuse, and
they're fine talking about it. They're dead, straight-faced. Then
the minute they break down is when they're like, 'I just wish I had
a friend to talk to.'"
And Hough, 24, admits being a role model to her fans and young
relatives is what is inspiring her to do more to help others: "I
have 17 nieces and nephews. The way that they look up to me is
scary. I'm like, 'Oh c**p! I better be an aunt they can be proud
of.'"