We’re only a few months into 2016, and already we’ve seen a number of high-profile women sharing their experiences of sexual abuse and urging other survivors to come forward. Kesha’s high profile court case against Dr Luke, Amber Coffman from Dirty Projectors speaking out against Heathcliff Berru, and now Jaime King. 

King is one of the most famous of the 90s models, indelibly linked with the ‘heroin chic’ period and remembered for her relationship with photographer Davide Sorrenti. Even by the standards of the modelling industry, King entered modelling at a very young age – she started modelling professionally at the age of 14 and, by 16, had already finished three seasons in Milan. Now King is speaking out about the childhood sexual abuse she alleges she suffered as a young model in the 90s.

In a series of posts on Instagram and Twitter, the model-turned-actress shared her story. Thanking Lady Gaga for her performance of “Til It Happens to You” at this weekend’s Oscars, a song which encourages sexual assault survivors to stand together, King said that she finally “felt a true healing from years of abuse as a minor in the industry”. Gaga swiftly tweeted back, saying that King was a “warrior” for coming forward to share her experiences and should “lead the way” for other women to do so. 

Taking to Instagram, King shared a picture of herself aged 14 and explained that her own abuse started when she was just 12 years old. After shouting out Lena Dunham and Lady Gaga for their support, as well as organisations like UN Women (which fights sexual abuse across the world), King explained that watching Gaga perform at the Oscars was like a “switch that went off inside finally when I realised my silence said I cannot help nor change and that is not who I am.”

King’s revelation came in response to a tweet which revealed that one in six women will be raped by the time they leave college in the USA. The figure, from UN Women, is both shocking and sad in equal measure – and we should applaud women like King and other survivors of sexual abuse for coming forward and sharing their stories. If we’re going to tackle sexual abuse on a global scale, then the first thing we need to do is talk about it – and these women are leading the way.