Cheryl Burke recalls the trauma of testifying against her childhood abuser

When Cheryl Burke was 9 years old, she testified in court against a janitor who sexually abused her and her stepsister.

Former Dancing with the stars for recalled the traumatic experience on the Monday, January 20 episode of the series Ancient podcast.

“We were both sexually harassed by the same person, the caretaker who was taking care of us,” Burke, 40, said. “And then it was my sister’s best friend who ran home and told her mother. That’s why he was sentenced – he should have been in prison for life, but he got out.”

During his trial, “I was almost on fire,” she continued. “I’ll never forget it when I actually testified with that man sitting in front of me. They wouldn’t even let my mom come with me, which was so crazy. I was 9. And I was like, ‘Am I making this up?’ I was literally saying that to myself.”

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Burke added: “I felt like a pedophile from the age of 9. That’s how they made me feel.’

She explained during it Ancient She appears to be a “professional disassociator” as a result of her past trauma, which she struggles to come to terms with.

“There’s no, ‘OK, I’m done with this part of my life,'” Burke said. “But I’ve done so much work where I couldn’t handle the anger I had at this one person that I felt like I was slowly dying, so there had to be some kind of peacemaking.” Not condoning the act by any means, but I had to create something like, ‘Okay, this man was sick.'”

However, she noted, “I’m not forgiving. I don’t want people to take it the wrong way, as if I condone the harassment.’

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Burke has previously spoken out about the abuse she endured as a child in 2015 and later when discussing what the suffering was like affected her relationships with men as an adult.

She thinks that in the future it will be more difficult for other victims to speak out against their abusers.

“It’s a company today, man,” Burke said Ancientadding: “Why would anyone ever want to come out and tell their truth when the person who is the victim feels like they are doing something wrong? And it’s so easy to burn someone and this whole statute of limitations thing. It’s all bull — because it takes decades, if not lifetimes, to finally realize or realize that, ‘Yeah, maybe I was raped.'”

She added: “None of this could be resolved quickly. There is none. And I don’t want it to come up under any circumstances. There are no medicines. There are no mushrooms. Trust me, I’ve tried it all. And it comes back tenfold if you don’t do the work, and boy does it hurt. It’s painful. This work is painful.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, get in touch National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).