Gail Abarbanel: Last News

Elizabeth Olsen praised her hero, charity pioneer Gail Abarbanel, when she was honoured at Variety's Power of Women event. The Marvel actress was among a host of famous women feted at this year's event, which took place on Wednesday in Los Angeles. After being introduced on stage by her WandaVision co-star Kathryn Hahn, 33-year-old Elizabeth spoke passionately about her involvement with Stuart House, a charity which helps sexually abused children and was founded by The Rape Foundation's Gail.

Elizabeth Olsen may save the day in Marvel films, but on Wednesday evening she highlighted her own hero: Gail Abarbanel, the founder and director of the Rape Foundation and Stuart House. In her speech at Variety’s Power of Women event presented by Lifetime, Olsen spoke passionately about Abarbanel, also in attendance, and the Los Angeles organization that the activist founded nearly five decades ago. “When I learned about tonight, I asked Gail if there is anything that she would like to do next with the foundation, because in my mind she’s already thought of everything. She said, ‘Yes, to stop sexual abuse on the internet,'” Olsen said. “To me that sounded very, very big and maybe impossible. But if you were to ask her what she wanted to create in 1974, I think that would have also sounded just as big and impossible.”

Elizabeth Olsen is one of creative leaders honored for Variety‘s 2022 Power of Women. For more, click here. Power of Women honoree Elizabeth Olsen has volunteered at Stuart House since 2016, spending time with young children and teens who’ve been sexually abused. She first learned of the Stuart House program, part of the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center-affiliated Rape Foundation, as she was prepping for “Wind River,” a film in which she plays an FBI agent investigating the rape and murder of a young woman. This was in 2015, when Olsen had just moved back to Los Angeles from New York, and was looking for ways to feel more connected to the city. Through her agency, she was introduced to Gail Abarbanel, the president of the Rape Foundation and founder of Stuart House. Abarbanel gave Olsen a tour of the Stuart House space in Santa Monica, where kids who’ve been sexually assaulted are provided free medical, legal and psychological care.