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Paige VanZant Discusses Opening Up About Being Sexually Assaulted in New Book

April 10, 2018 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Paige VanZant spoke with MMA Fighting for a new interview discussing her book Rise: Surviving the Fight of My Life. Highlights are below:

On wanting to tell her story in her own words: “I had written stuff in high school, and I had written things here and there. It got to the point where it was like, you know, it’s time for me to share it. I guess being on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ and being on all these shows and I kept being asked about it, I guess it was time to just be very transparent. If I was gonna say anything and be open about it, the best way to do it is to write it down in a book and let people read it. So it doesn’t necessarily have to come out of my mouth, but people get to hear my story.”

On discussing her sexual assault in the book: “Just so I got to say it one time — I said exactly what I wanted to say to a person, they wrote it down and then I never had to look at it again. So, it was me voicing everything that happened and I just got it out in the open and I never had to look at it again. It was one of those things where I tell the story and move on.”

On the book coming out right in the midst of the #MeToo movement: “It was totally coincidental and I just couldn’t be more happy with the way it worked out. It’s like just so comforting that other people kind of took those steps almost before I did, because I’m not the first one. I’m not gonna be the first groundbreaking story. I get to kind of follow and learn from how they did it and see that if they did it, I can do it, too.”

On advocating for anti-bullying in the book: “A huge reason I’m getting the book out is because I want to be an advocate for anti-bullying, I want to be an advocate. That’s the main wave I want to start from this. The hardest thing for me was the bullies. That just really sunk me even lower, that no one was even there for me.”

On the impact of the book: “It almost makes it feel like everything I went through was worth it. Like I went through it for a purpose. Once this book comes out, if it changes someone’s life, then what I went through wasn’t meaningless, it wasn’t something terrible. It wasn’t a tragedy. It was something beautiful and it’s gonna be good and it’s gonna help people.”

On possibly fighting before the end of the year: “I hope so. That won’t be too soon. I have to get in there before the end of the year. I will fight in 2018, I know that.”

On the attention the book will garner: “I get nervous for everything, but I’m especially nervous for this. I think it’s just gonna be one of those moments I tell myself, I tell my family — everybody — let’s stay off social media, let’s just let it be out there for a few days and if I don’t pay attention to social media, it’s like it’s not even happening. I don’t have to know what’s happening, I don’t have to know if people like it or not, I just get to live life and know my story is out there.”

article topics :

Paige VanZant, Jeremy Thomas