Just a few days after she alluded to being sexually assaulted on social media, Lucy Hale\u00a0says she has even more respect for the men and women who have come\u00a0forward with their #MeToo stories.<\/p>\n
Speaking with People<\/em>\u00a0at an event on Monday,\u00a0the 28-year-old Pretty Little Liars<\/em> star discussed the “awesome” wave of brave individuals who are sharing their heartbreaking accounts\u00a0of sexual misconduct.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI feel grateful to have people that I look up to that are speaking up about things,\u201d said Hale. \u201cNot just women \u2014 I think men have sometimes suffered the same way that women have. And as long as a conversation is going or a conversation has started, which it has, that\u2019s the best thing you could ever ask for because that makes people feel not alone. I think if powerful people can make a difference by speaking up, which they are, that will trickle down hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n In now-deleted posts shared on both her Instagram and Twitter pages last Thursday, Hale\u00a0hinted at her own #MeToo experience. \u201cI never understood sexual assault until tonight. I always sympathized, but I never felt the pain of it until right now. My dignity and pride was broken,” she wrote. “I am completely at a loss of words. I feel for anyone that has felt this pain that I feel right now. But I promise. I will not let a moment go by that I don\u2019t try to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED:\u00a0Lucy Hale Is Thankful to Be Safe After Her Home Was Burglarized<\/strong><\/p>\n Hale confirmed that she’s taking that promise seriously. \u201cMy whole thing is I never want to be someone who makes it all shiny and rainbows all the time, because it\u2019s not,\u201d she told People<\/em>. \u201cNo one ever feels like that 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n And in those unavoidable dark times, Hale said she relies heavily on her fans. “There can be times when I feel like no one in the world gets something, and I can read something through one of the people who supports me and I\u2019m like ‘Holy sh*t. I am not alone in any of this,\u2019” she revealed. “They\u2019ve stuck by me through the good and the bad. I\u2019m so grateful.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n