Lili Reinhart is opening up in an empowering way. The Riverdale actress has been vocal about her experience with sexual harassment, and now she is sharing the reason why she didn’t report the incident when it happened. Lili joins dozens of other stars who are speaking out, in light of the recent hashtag, #WhyIDidntReport, which is going viral – with tons of people sharing their stories.

“Because I didn’t want to lose my job or make people think I was a drama queen. #WhyIDidntReport,” the 22-year-old actress tweeted.

The Riverdale star previously shared a personal experience through an extensive essay she posted on Tumblr in October 2017.

Lili wrote, “I feel the need to share a story of my own personal experience where a man in a position of power over me, used that said power to try and take advantage of me. I was a teenager working on a project.. when I started to have a crush on a guy I was working with. He was incredibly charming and charismatic– we flirted for a while before we went on our first date. He was pretty significantly older than me, but I thought of myself as mature so it didn’t seem like a big deal.”

Without getting too specific, the actress went on to explain that things took a turn. Lili described the situation as “a scene right out of a horror movie.”

“I’m not comfortable giving specific details about the situation because I don’t feel it’s necessary. All that matters is that he tried to force himself on me when we were on a date,” she continued. “I had to stop him and say ‘no, I don’t want that,’ and ‘I can’t do that.’ I physically walked away from the situation before it could get any worse.”

Lili went on to explain that she got in his car to go home, as she didn’t have money for a taxi or an Uber. But he wasn’t headed in the direction of her home – rather, he was taking them to his apartment.

“I knew if I made it there, something bad was going to happen to me. I told him to drop me off at my home, that I didn’t want to go back to his place. He said some snarky comment but reluctantly brought me to where I was staying,” she added. “The next day I tried to talk to him about the situation. I told him how uncomfortable it made me and how wrong it felt.”

Lili explained that the man put the blame on her, saying that she led him on. Lili didn’t come forward about the situation in fear that it would affect her job or that people wouldn’t believe the story.

The star continued, “I felt that I needed to keep my mouth shut about the entire situation because 1. I figured no one would believe me and 2. he played a much bigger role in this project than me… he had more power. If I said something, maybe the production would be halted… people would be put out of work. I would be looked at as dramatic and a diva, no one would want to work with me again.”

There are tons of stories similar to Lili’s, and it’s important to know there are resources to help.

If you or a friend has experienced sexual assault, you can find help by calling the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or find more resources from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center at nsvrc.org.

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