![\"Alyssa](\"http:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alyssa-Milano\u2019s-Political-Awakening.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Washington Post<\/em> In the midst of the Harvey Weinstein maelstrom, Alyssa Milano fired off a nighttime tweet. She thought, \u201cLet\u2019s just try this.\u201d<\/p>\n Ten minutes of her attention, tops. Then she went to sleep beside her young daughter.<\/p>\n This was October 2017. You probably saw it. Everybody saw it.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write \u2018me too\u2019 as a reply to this tweet.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n She recalls thinking, \u201cAt least it puts the focus on the victims in a way that they didn\u2019t have to tell the story of their accusers.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Milano awoke to 53,000 replies. Within 24 hours, MeToo appeared 12 million times across Twitter and Facebook. Within two days, the phrase was trending in 85 countries.<\/p>\n Milano, 46, has been bedroom-poster famous since she was a tween on \u201cWho\u2019s the Boss?\u201d yet felt \u201clike I was in over my head,\u201d she says, sitting in a tony Manhattan hotel lounge over lunch. \u201cBut I realized that this collective pain could be transformed into a collective power.\u201d<\/em> She also went back into therapy to deal with two assaults and the resulting panic attacks that she had endured for years.<\/p>\n She was named one of \u201cThe Silence Breakers,\u201d Time\u2019s collective Person of the Year. Outspoken and ubiquitous, Milano went into overdrive. She appeared on Capitol Hill during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, and protested in front of the White House. She visited Parkland, the border and Flint, Mich., launched an activist collective challenging the NRA\u2019s political influence, campaigned for Democratic candidates and against Georgia\u2019s abortion bill. She called for a\u201csex strike\u201d to protest restrictive abortion laws.<\/p>\n Of all people, it is a star of anodyne television who became one of MeToo\u2019s leading voices, pushing it to the forefront more than a decade after Tarana Burke founded the movement. Milano gained enduring popularity from that comfort-food programming, and she has harnessed it \u2014 and her abundant social media skills \u2014 to become an A-list activist. Perhaps that\u2019s the point: The acting never detracts from the activism, which has assumed primacy in her work. In more than three decades of working on television, 77 credits, Milano has not once been nominated for an Emmy. She currently stars in Netflix\u2019s critically reviled \u201cInsatiable\u201d (\u201ca ghastly dramedy\u201d wrote The Post\u2019s Hank Stuever). Yet here she was in New York to accept another major philanthropic honor, possibly her 35th since that tweet, she has lost count.<\/p>\n Milano has never appeared on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d \u2014 her shows don\u2019t generate that sort of heat. But in September, a cardboard cutout of her top-bunned likeness made an indelible cameo while Matt Damon, as Kavanaugh, barked \u201cYou just want to humiliate me in front of my wife and my parents and Alyssa \u2018Freaking\u2019 Milano.”<\/em><\/p>\n The past year and a half has been one sustained Alyssa \u201cFreaking\u201d Milano moment, which isn\u2019t about to stop.<\/p>\n This being 2019, she launched in late April a weekly podcast, \u201cSorry Not Sorry,\u201d with guests such as Joe Biden and Burke. In October, Scholastic Books will publish the first volume of her \u201cHope\u201d series about a biracial middle schooler, which is intended to empower children age 8 and older to forge social change.<\/p>\n For the 2020 election, Milano plans to raise $1 million, and another $1 million through matching funds, for grass-roots voter turnout efforts in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.<\/p>\n As an actor, she\u2019s adored by fans \u2014 Samantha Micelli! Phoebe Halliwell! \u2014 who may loathe her politics. In Alabama, where she campaigned for Democrat Doug Jones, Republican voters mobbed her for selfies. She\u2019s relentless on social media to her 3.5 million Twitter followers \u2014 more than Beto O\u2019Rourke and Pete Buttigieg combined. Milano\u2019s largely impervious to criticism and threats, while receiving plenty of both. \u201cI feel like they\u2019re screaming in the wind,\u201d<\/em> she says of her trolls. Milano often enlists her relatively apolitical best friend, Alaa Khaled, to accompany her to protests. \u201cWhen she\u2019s determined to do something, there\u2019s no talking her out of it,\u201d says Khaled, brother of performer DJ Khaled. Milano insisted on his presence in the delivery room for the C-section birth of her daughter. (Elizabella is 4 and Milo is 7.)<\/p>\n \u201cBoots on the ground\u201d is Milano\u2019s motto, pointing to her black Doc Martens (ever-ready, stashed in the car). She has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2003. Being present and empathetic are key to her activism. She\u2019s become the sitcom confessor, the repository of MeToo stories from strangers, whom she welcomes with hugs and her cell number, asking them to text and stay in touch. And she frequently disarms critics by being someone they don\u2019t expect her to be. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to take away your guns,\u201d she tells firearm owners while, on her website, threatening to \u201csue the pants off\u201d the NRA. \u201cWe\u2019re actually a two-gun household.\u201d<\/p>\n Filming \u201cInsatiable\u201d in Atlanta became a political opportunity. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of good trouble to get into in Georgia,\u201d<\/em> says the actress, who has a professor come to the house monthly to teach her constitutional law. Milano is \u201ca committed, passionate fighter and advocate for reproductive rights in Georgia and nationally,\u201d<\/em> notes former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in an email. \u201cHer activism has centered on the people of Georgia.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n After the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on sex abuse in the Catholic Church, Milano contacted state attorney general Josh Shapiro via Twitter offering to help survivors. \u201cNow we talk or text several times a week,\u201d<\/em> says Shapiro, who enlisted the actress to campaign for Democratic legislative candidates. \u201cShe understands the power of storytelling to affect change.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n None of this is new, Milano says. Though activism \u201chas been part of my life forever, having social media has sort of shifted and magnified the work that I do,\u201d<\/em> she says. \u201cAnd also made it so I could create the opportunity and not wait for it to come to me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Milano\u2019s activism began at age 15, kissing Ryan White on national television. Which was fitting because \u201cI grew up on television,\u201d from ages 11 to 19, as Samantha, America\u2019s big-haired girl next door, as she tells an avid early-morning crowd of Scholastic staffers. She\u2019s sitting in a subterranean auditorium for a sales conference event for the \u201cHope\u201d books, her daughter and Khaled in the audience.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I\u2019d gotten a phone call from Elton John,\u201d<\/em> she continues. \u201cJust to show you how surreal my life is.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The pop legend wanted a favor. Ryan, also a teenager, was infected with HIV from a blood transfusion. The White family had entered a protracted battle over his attending school in Indiana. This was during the early years of the epidemic when fear was rampant. Ryan had a crush on Alyssa \u2014 so many boys did \u2014 and her kiss on his cheek on \u201cThe Phil Donahue Show\u201d was to demonstrate that the disease couldn\u2019t be spread through casual contact.<\/p>\n Nothing she ever did on \u201cWho\u2019s the Boss?\u201d created so much attention. \u201cEverything after meeting Ryan made more sense and was put in the right place,\u201d<\/em> Milano says. \u201cIt had greater purpose.<\/em>\u201d White died in 1990 at age 18.<\/p>\n Since she was in single digits, Milano has never not worked, an achievement amid the miserable track record of child actors. She saw \u201cAnnie\u201d on her seventh birthday, and decided acting was what she was born to do. She soon booked the national touring company, one of four girls chosen from 1,500. Milano worked eight seasons on \u201cBoss,\u201d eight on \u201cCharmed.\u201d She did \u201cMelrose Place,\u201d and so many TV movies. She still makes them. Lifetime\u2019s \u201cTempting Fate,\u201d the story of a woman caught \u2014 where else? \u2014 between two men, debuts June 15.<\/p>\n A sports fanatic, Milano launched an apparel line for female fans, which she operates with Khaled. She dated three pitchers but didn\u2019t marry one \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m smarter than that\u201d \u2014 but the passion abides. \u201cI love everything about baseball,\u201d<\/em> she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a quiet and a stillness and a rhythm to it that leads to these unbelievable moments \u2014 a home run or some incredible play \u2014 but it\u2019s also about what goes on in between those moments.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Acting \u201cis, literally, my day job,\u201d she says, in a hotel room with her daughter, her aunt, Khaled, makeup and hair people, the movable circus that is her life. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like my office work.\u201d On Twitter, her trolls claim that philanthropist George Soros funds her activism. Nonsense. Her acting does.<\/p>\n The panic attacks only occurred on set, sometimes lasting for days. \u201cMy stomach in knots. It\u2019s brutal. The walls are closing in, and I can\u2019t catch my breath,\u201d<\/em> she says. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of primal, and volcanic.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n After MeToo, Milano spoke openly of her first assault at age 19, at a concert, she says, by a stranger, his hand up her skirt, punching her repeatedly in the vagina.<\/p>\n She came to terms with the later assault, which she says happened during a shoot when she was 24. At the time, \u201cI told a lot of people. Nobody did anything,\u201d<\/em> she says. \u201cI had to work with him for another six weeks.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n She finally shared the story with her husband, her parents, her therapist, though not publicly, a departure for a performer who lives so much of her life out loud. \u201cI don\u2019t know when that will be,\u201d<\/em> she says. \u201cI\u2019m not really ready to expose that human.\u201d<\/em> But she says she hasn\u2019t had a panic attack in almost a year.<\/p>\n In a brilliantly colored, full-length gown, in a packed Midtown hall, Milano accepts the Voice of Empowerment Award from Safe Horizon, which assists victims of violence.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil women around the world who are not safe from their intimate partners at home have a safe haven in our nation, I won\u2019t stop fighting,\u201d<\/em> says Milano, her hands clasped on the podium. She understands that by showing up, she helps fill chairs, raise funds and awareness, her glamorous image splashed across the glossy weeklies and New York tabs.<\/p>\n Despite filming the second season of \u201cInsatiable\u201d on the opposite side of the country from her husband and young children, Milano keeps adding causes and events to her schedule.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of the reason I don\u2019t want her to slow down is that I see how many people she\u2019s helping,\u201d<\/em> Bugliari says. \u201cThe times in my life where I\u2019ve felt most fearless have been in those moments of activism,\u201d<\/em> she says, \u201cwhether it be walking through an active minefield or sharing my story of sexual assault with other women.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n She prefers these moments over the sundry Lifetime movies and Netflix series that allow her to pursue them.<\/p>\n Even the trolls are helping. \u201cThere\u2019s an element of almost satisfaction, maybe being emboldened, that I must be doing something right because they are really angry. If I wasn\u2019t so impactful, would they need to be as vicious? Are they trying to silence me, trying to hurt me?\u201d<\/em> she asks, tapping her Docs. \u201cBecause, like, none of it\u2019s working.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Read the original article here.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Actress and Activist Alyssa Milano who was honored at Safe Horizon\u2019s 24th Annual Champion Awards, discusses her advocacy work for victims of abuse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":{"id":7071,"alt_text":"Alyssa Milano\u2019s Political Awakening","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":640,"height":616,"file":"2019\/05\/Alyssa-Milano\u2019s-Political-Awakening.png","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"Alyssa-Milano\u2019s-Political-Awakening-150x150.png","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alyssa-Milano\u2019s-Political-Awakening-150x150.png"},"medium":{"file":"Alyssa-Milano\u2019s-Political-Awakening-300x289.png","width":300,"height":289,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alyssa-Milano\u2019s-Political-Awakening-300x289.png"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":7070,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alyssa-Milano\u2019s-Political-Awakening.png"},"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[1259,1263,358,103,105],"class_list":["post-7070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-safe-horizon-in-the-news","tag-24th-annual-champion-awards","tag-alyssa-milano","tag-champion-awards","tag-rape","tag-sexual-assault","issue-rape-and-sexual-assault"],"acf":{"page_header_title":"","page_header_excerpt":"","page_header_image":false,"custom_scripts":false,"show_author_bio":false,"original_url":"","related_initiative_title":"How do we help survivors of rape and sexual assault?","related_initiative_link":"\/get-help\/rape-and-sexual-assault","related_initiative_link_text":"Learn about our services","featured_posts":[{"ID":6831,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2019-02-28 17:48:11","post_date_gmt":"2019-02-28 17:48:11","post_content":"
\nBy Karen Heller <\/em>
\nMay 2, 2019<\/em><\/p>\n
\nShe\u2019s the Jane Fonda of the current era \u2014 if Fonda hosted \u201cProject Runway All Stars\u201d and appeared in a continuous loop of \u201cCharmed\u201d reruns.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI can\u2019t believe it doesn\u2019t bother her. It bothers the hell out of me,\u201d<\/em> says her husband, Dave Bugliari, an agent and co-head of CAA\u2019s motion picture talent department. \u201cI spend far too much time trolling her trolls.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n![\"3](\"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/3-Tips-for-Watching-Media-Movies-or-Documentaries-724x1024.png\")
\r\n\r\nBy Dana Rosenwasser<\/em>\r\nFebruary 28, 2019<\/em>\r\n\r\nWhen stories of abuse and violence come to light through movies, documentaries or other media, many of us are compelled to want to see them and yet are often not prepared for the strong reactions we may experience while viewing them. In addition, many of these reactions may linger with us even after the movie ends. If you are a survivor of violence or abuse, it is very common to feel like you are actually \u201cre-experiencing\u201d your own trauma. Here are some tips you can use to take care of yourself.\r\n1. Create a Support System<\/h1>\r\nWatching a movie or documentary alongside supportive people can help you feel more comforted. You can choose to watch media with family members, friends, or people who have had similar experiences as you. You can turn to them to help you work through any feelings or reactions you have during or after the movie.\r\n\r\nIf you don\u2019t have any immediate support, our Hotlines can provide support and referrals to services if you are in New York City. Visit our Hotlines page<\/a> or scroll down for more information.\r\n
2. Accept That It\u2019s OK to Stop<\/h1>\r\nThere may be a point in the documentary or movie where you feel it is just too much and are flooded with emotions. \u00a0It\u2019s important that you don\u2019t feel obligated to watch the rest of the segment or return to finish it. Give yourself permission to turn it off, walk away, and leave it in the past.\r\n
3. Know That Help is Available<\/h1>\r\nThere are many national and local organizations here to help support you.\r\n\r\nIf you are in New York City, Client Advocate Specialists at our Domestic Violence Hotline are able to provide both support and referrals to services. Our hotline is available 24-hours a day, seven days a week, and is both free and confidential. Call our domestic violence hotline: 1- 800-621-HOPE (4673).\r\n\r\nFor help outside New York City, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or\u00a0visit their site<\/a>.\r\n\r\nIf you are in New York City and are a survivor or rape or sexual assault you can call the Client Advocate Specialists at 212-227-3000.\r\n\r\nFor help outside New York City, the RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) operates the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline, a free and confidential hotline that is available 24\/7. Call 800.656.HOPE (4673) or visit their site<\/a>.","post_title":"3 Tips for Watching Triggering Media, Movies, or Documentaries \u00a0","post_excerpt":"Watching stories of abuse unfold onscreen can be triggering for survivors of abuse and violence. Use these tips to prepare for watching triggering media.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"tips-watching-triggering-media-movies-documentaries","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-06-10 13:50:42","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-10 17:50:42","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/?p=6831","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"title_font_size":"42","sub-headline_placement":false},"yoast_head":"\n