Free Yourself: Tabitha Brown Reveals She Hid Her Rape For Years, “It Wasn’t My Fault”

Tabitha Brown always has a word that feels right on time.

Since 2020, Auntie Tab, as she’s affectionately called by her fans, has been a positive and uplifting online voice for many. From her vegan recipes to her transparency around her journey to success; there is always something to be learned from one of her videos. Now an Emmy-winning show host and a New York Times bestselling author, Brown still finds time to talk to her millions of fans from a true and honest place.

The 44-year-old recently shared a TikTok in which she detailed being raped at 15 years old and how, after years of telling no one about the experience, she’s learned to heal by no longer refusing to hide. “I don’t know why this is so heavy on my heart, but I wanted to share this now. And I talk about this a bit in my first book Feeding the Soul, so it’s not new to many people, but whatever reason, God has placed it on my heart tonight,” she began. Brown went on to describe a pretty normal teenage happening: a night that started with sneaking out with some of her friends to meet up with boys. “‘Let’s go – let’s go meet boys,’ and we went to this party,” she recalled. “And there was a guy there who I thought liked me. I thought was cute, and I had known him, but didn’t really know him.”

She went on to reveal that she was assaulted that night and allowed self-blame to bully her into silence. “For years I blamed myself because I had snuck out my mama’s house, I had taken her car and I went to this party. And I knew better. And in my mind I convinced myself, ‘That’s what you get. You deserve that. Like that was your punishment.'” Over time and with intentional reflection, Brown said she’s come to a place of understanding that she was simply a victim that night…and, ultimately, not at fault.

“In my adult life, I realize — and in this healing journey that I’m on — that there is absolutely never any reason to be raped. It is never your fault. Okay?” she told her followers. “Doesn’t matter what you wore. Doesn’t matter where you went. Doesn’t matter what you did wrong, but under no circumstance is it ever your fault for getting raped.” The mother of two is always vocal about her relationship with God and credited her faith for giving her the courage to share this experience after holding onto the secret until only a few years ago.

“God gave me a word five years ago and He told me my secrets were making me sick, and so I had to release it,” she explained. “So I say to you — if you’ve been holding it in for so many different reasons, whether you think you’re guilty or that you deserved it; embarrassment, shame, whatever the case may be, it’s time to release it. Because your secret is making you sick. It wasn’t your fault.”