UFC Star Paige VanZant Says She Was Sexually Assaulted At 14 Years Old
UFC star Paige VanZant told ABC News that she was bullied throughout high school and was sexually assaulted at a party as a 14-year-old freshman. VanZant contemplated suicide because she "didn't see any other way out."
VanZant details her rough past in her new memoir titled "Rise: Surviving The Fight Of My Life." She attended high school in Oregon and alleges that a group of boys got her drunk at a party and some of them raped her. She says that bullying came after rumors spread that she had consensual sex with the boys.
“They move me around,” VanZant writes in her book, according to MMA Fighting. They change my position. I fail each time I try to resist, my limbs like wet cement on my body, my brain a heavy fog. I am awake and conscious, but my body feels dead. I know what is happening but can do nothing to stop it. I have no voice or choice but to submit and pray that it ends soon.”
VanZant competes in the flyweight division and has a 7–4 career record. She recently opened up about struggling with an eating disorder as a result of constantly cutting weight.