Brave caller shares with Eddie Mair their powerful story of coming to terms with abuse
25 February 2020, 17:33
Eddie spoke to a man who wanted to share his story of acceptance, opening up and seeking help for abuse that happened to him as a child.
Adrian, who didn't use his real name for privacy, shared his story of speaking to the police and social services nearly 40 years after his initial experiences of abuse at the hands of a family member.
When Eddie asked what convinced him to finally share his story, Adrian cited the thawing attitudes towards men opening up about their feelings and prominent celebrity figures sharing their own stories of suffering at the hand of abuse.
The caller described an occasion where he saw an ex footballer share his experiences on TV, which moved him to speak out.
"Looking at him, he was a similar age, in a position where people look up to him, and he just broke down."
Adrian went further to express what he learned through bottling up his story. He encouraged victims to speak up as soon as they can, because "each time you try and fail, it gets harder".
Eddie came back in to ask the caller when he picked up the courage to speak and he mentioned how he bared all to his mother when they sat for a coffee. After an initial dialogue between him and his parents, he recalled how "this conversation continued in very small amounts over the following months and then it died a death".
Adrian then said this was the point he had to speak to professionals of his trauma, and contacted the social services, who he believed could point him "in the direction of who to talk to".
The story Adrian shared was so inspiring to Eddie, that he was urged to hold the line while Eddie went to the news headlines and and an ad break so they could continue the story afterwards.
