‘It Ends With Us’ star Justin Baldoni reveals he was sexually traumatized by an ex: ‘It got emotionally abusive’

nypost.com:

“It Ends With Us” director and star, 40, shared his story of experiencing “sexual trauma” from his ex during his appearance on Elizabeth’s Day “How to Fail” podcast on Wednesday.Baldoni said he met a “beautiful young woman” while attending Long Beach State and immediately started dating her “to fill a hole and a void where I just didn’t feel like I was enough.”“And it was a very bad relationship and I kind of contorted myself and my personality to be what she wanted,” Baldoni explained. “I had strong values and opinions and beliefs going in, and those were very easily manipulated and reshaped to the point where a few months in I completely lost any sense of self that I had left.

And it got very emotionally abusive.”“I experienced sexual trauma in that relationship,” the “Jane the Virgin” star continued, “then wrestled with that trauma for the rest of my life, because in my head a man can’t experience sexual trauma at the hands of a woman.”“And it’s also the way that society has kind of made me feel that it’s only the other way around, when in reality it can happen,” he added. “There are lines that can be crossed and take advantage of somebody and to be manipulated.

But I told myself for 15 years after that that wasn’t actually what happened, and that I did want it. And all of the things that women have been feeling and experiencing for a long time.”Baldoni revealed that “was hoping to save myself for marriage” at the time, adding, “And that’s as detailed as I’ll get into the story.”The filmmaker said he was in denial about the situation with his ex until he spoke to a therapist, who helped him realize he was a victim of sexual trauma.“And that was when I broke,” he said, revealing that the “terrible” relationship.