Alyssa Milano has opened up about the birth of her first child, revealing that it reminded her of being sexually assaulted.
Milano, who is perhaps best known for playing Phoebe Halliwell on the fantasy drama Charmed, shared her rather traumatic experience of giving birth to her now-10-year-old son Milo during an appearance on People's podcast Me Becoming Mom.
The 48-year-old actress said: "After going through therapy after giving birth to Milo and remembering that one moment of feeling like I was being held down and had things being done to me that I didn’t want, to me, was very reminiscent of being sexually assaulted.
"It triggered all of these memories that I thought I had dealt with."
The Melrose Place star went on to say that she believes her PTSD from sexual assault will always be a part of her.
Milano added: "I think anyone who has dealt with trauma has the moments where you’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve dealt with that.’ Versus the moments where you go, ‘Oh, no I didn’t. I just tried to tuck it away so no one could see them or I couldn’t see them or feel them anymore."
What she found particularly overwhelming was that so many people had "access" to her vagina while she was giving birth to her son.
She continued: "I remembered at one point really not enjoying the fact that lots of people had access to my vagina and thinking to myself, 'Why does — I don’t like this. Why does it feel so familiar? I’ve never had a baby before. Why does this invasive feeling feel so familiar? That was just a fleeting moment, a tick in time, but I didn’t forget about it."
Milano shares both Milo and her seven-year-old daughter Elizabella with her husband David Bugliari.
Back in 2017, Milano helped launch the #MeToo movement when she shared a tweet asking women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted to reply "me too" to the post.
Sharing that the idea was suggested by a friend, she wrote: "If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote 'Me too' as a status, we might give a sense of the magnitude of the problem."