Friday 20 May 2022 09:16 PM Biden's new press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was sexually abused by older ... trends now
President Joe Biden's new press secretary was sexually abused by an older male cousin as a child and would hide in an attic to avoid him, according to her memoir.
Karine Jean-Pierre, 44, the first black woman and openly gay person to become the White House press secretary, recounted the trauma's she faced in her 2019 memoir, Moving Forward, which included a tale of the abuse she suffered from an unnamed cousin.
Details of the abuse Jean-Pierre endured re-emerged in a New York Times profile that detailed the hardships she faced earlier in life.
Jean-Pierre wrote that between the ages of seven and 10, an older male cousin would sexually abuse her, forcing her to hide away in an attic crawl space to try and avoid him in her Queens home.
She said the abuse finally game to an end when a female relative discovered the problem and intervened, separating Jean-Pierre from the cousin.
It is unclear if the police were ever informed of the abuse Jean-Pierre endured.
The traumatic experience was one of many Jean-Pierre suffered growing up that has emphasized her historic accomplishment as she took over Jen Psaki's role as White House press secretary last Friday.
Karine Jean-Pierre, 44, the first black woman and openly gay person to become the White House press secretary, had been sexually abused as a child by an older male cousin
Born in Martinique, Jean-Pierre is pictured celebrating a birthday as a child. The family moved to Queens when she was five. She said she suffered the sexual abuse between the ages of seven and 10, where she often hid away in an attic
In a Twitter post last year, Jean-Pierre recounted her mother's disappointment when she came out as a lesbian at 16. The trauma would would go couple with Jean-Pierre's depression and struggles with her sexuality that came to a head when she planned to take her own life
One of the biggest traumas Jean-Pierre faced was a suicide attempt fueled by her Catholic mother's frosty reaction when she came out as a lesbian.
Her mom is now fully supportive, and is close to Jean-Pierre's CNN journalist partner Suzanne Malveaux.
In her 2019 book, she writes that that, coupled with struggling with her sexuality, led her to spiral into depression and attempt suicide - saved by her sister, Edwine, who found her following an attempted carbon monoxide
