Rosie was abused by a man who told her parents he could help with her career
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Rosie loved performing arts as a teenager and wanted to be a dancer.
A man who claimed to have showbusiness connections claimed that he could help her with this ambition.
Rosie grew up in the 1960s and 70s. She describes herself as ‘part of a happy family with lovely parents’, who were very sociable. She was confident, and loved dancing and wanted to make a career out of it.
One evening her parents said they had met a man who offered to get Rosie audience tickets for a popular television show. It would be a chance to showcase her dancing and her parents thought it would be a good opportunity for her.
One night her parents brought their new acquaintance, Angelo, home to meet Rosie. He was complimentary about her dancing and encouraged her that he could introduce her to the professional dancers who appeared on the show.
He got tickets for Rosie and a friend, and the girls travelled to a studio in the city where the show was filmed. Rosie was 15, and she comments that no one asked their age when they went in.
She says it felt like ‘a wonderful experience’, but she can now remember that she and other girls who were skimpily dressed were pushed forward on the set by bouncers, and that cameramen were filming ‘up girls’ skirts’.
Afterwards she was invited to go to a bar with some of the men, but they were bouncers or general helpers; no one famous or anyone who could have helped her career.
Angelo continued to build a relationship with Rosie’s parents; he was ‘full of enthusiasm’ about what he could do to help her in a dance career and she says they were thrilled by this.
One day he collected Rosie from school to give her a lift home. She was still 15. He manipulated her into performing oral sex on him, telling her he would take her to parties and introduce her to people who could help her career.
Rosie says she had no sexual experience and didn’t know how to handle the situation, particularly as he was a friend of her parents. She adds that she feels she was ‘blinded’ by the prospect of entry into the celebrity world. When Angelo started taking her to parties, her parents did not question this because they trusted him.
One evening Angelo picked Rosie up to take her to a party. On the way they picked up a young woman and a young man, aged around 20. Angelo stopped the car and had sex in the front seat with the woman. The man asked Rosie to have sex with him but she managed to put him off, saying that she was having her period.
At the party Rosie soon realised she was the youngest person there. She noticed a naked man, and then another male she recognised from the television show took her into a dark room. He asked her to take her clothes off, saying she was ‘like a model’ and further sexually assaulted her. Then he told her to get dressed and got a taxi to take her home.
On another occasion Angelo picked up Rosie and took her to a flat. He asked to see what underwear she was wearing. She refused and started crying. Angelo told her that he hadn’t brought her all that way ‘just to get a wet shoulder’. She doesn’t remember how she got home.
Not long after, Rosie got a boyfriend and she says Angelo dropped her ‘like a hot potato’ and she had no more contact with him.
Rosie feels the sexual abuse she suffered at the age of 15 has affected her mental health, and her relationships. Her schoolwork deteriorated and she lost her confidence. She suffers with depression and has had a breakdown. She has frequently been bullied and has been involved with abusive and controlling men.
Media coverage about abuse by Jimmy Savile brought memories of the abuse she suffered flooding back to her. She says that when she heard a victim and survivor speaking ‘It was like a knife going in … I knew why I had had troubles in my life, I didn’t realise the impact of the abuse until then’.
She adds that she feels guilty, ashamed and embarrassed about it.
Rose is concerned that the Disclosure and Barring Service doesn’t work well enough to protect children because it only picks up people who have convictions.
She adds that there needs to be rigorous safeguarding of children involved with theatre and performing arts, especially with rehearsals that often take place outside theatres and venues.