It is common for celebrities to visit the Hill to testify on issues they care about, but rarer to hear ones speak on experiences they personally suffered.
That was the case with actress Gabrielle Union, who, as a rape victim, testified Wednesday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee about the importance of the Violence Against Women Act.
“When I was 19, I had a summer job,” she said, and “one night during the course of a robbery a man raped me.”
Sounding like a fictional character from one of her many films, Union explained how she picked up his gun and attempted her “best ‘Starsky and Hutch,’ fell on [her] back popped the clip in and tried to kill him.
“As sick as this sounds, I was lucky to be raped in a wealthy community,” she conceded, adding passionately that “only a few get the justice and the treatment” she was fortunate to receive.
“I am now a rape survivor, not a rape victim,” she said.
