'Bachelorette' Katie Thurston reveals past sexual assault: 'Consent is important, and I did not give it that night'

During an extremely vulnerable moment on The Bachelorette Monday night, Katie Thurston opened up about a very personal and emotional story during one of her group dates.

After asking all the men to share a personal story they are not proud of, Katie wanted to open up in return. "What I'm gonna tell you, a lot of people actually don't know, including my own mom. I know you see me today as this very sex-positive woman who's very confident, but she hasn't always been here. Ten years ago, it was New Year's Eve, and I had been drinking, and I was involved in a situation where there wasn't consent," Katie bravely shared.

"That is not something I wish upon anybody," said Katie. "I was in denial about what happened. So much so that I tried to form a relationship with him because I didn't wanna believe what actually had happened. And when that didn't work out, for years, I had a very unhealthy relationship with sex. I didn't want to have sex, which affects the relationship. I didn't like talking about sex. And it's taken me a long time to get to where I am now in being open and comfortable talking about it and loving myself and accepting things that I can no longer control."

Katie went on to say that she has come a long way over the last decade, and has learned how important consent and communication is when it comes to sex. "How important it is to not guilt trip somebody for not having enough sex with them, guilt trip them for not having sex with them in general. And so that is something that… really big that has happened in my life that in some ways has really shaped me to who exactly I am today," stated Katie.

Later in her confessional, Katie admitted, "What I shared with the group today is something I never really talked about. For a long time, I felt responsible for being too drunk, too irresponsible, too stupid. But it's not my fault, because consent is important, and I did not give it that night."

Bachelor Nation fell in love with Katie on night one of Matt James's season of The Bachelor, when the sex-positive contestant came out of the limo wielding a vibrator.

So it was expected that Katie's season of The Bachelorette would be the most sex-positive yet. And while what happened to Katie was not a positive experience in the past, her confession Monday night ended up being liberating.

The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Watch Bachelor Nation praising Katie Thurston for not taking any BS:

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