Content Warning: This article discusses sexual assault. If you or someone you know are affected by the following story, you are not alone. To speak to someone, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
In her upcoming memoir, Always Young and Restless, the 64-year-old explained that as a child, she had gained a place in the prestigious Hollywood Children’s Theatre which had been founded and run by an elderly man by the name of Cosmo Morgan.
According to Scott, she was then required to take weekly private lessons with Morgan where she said she was “forced to sit on his lap”. She added that the abuse quickly escalated, despite her grandmother being in the room and witnessing the unspeakable acts.
“I remember when I first started to happen I was four, and I hardly knew that this was wrong and she was sitting probably five feet away and I looked at her, my eyes, I’m sure were wild with the questions, ‘Do you see this? Are you going to stop this?’ And she never did,” she told Page Six, adding that the abuse continued “for years”.
While Scott’s grandmother – who was her guardian – has long since died, the actress revealed that she hasn’t forgiven her for remaining complicit in the abuse over the years.
“I’m not ready for that then I don’t know if I ever will because when they are aware they become complicit and that to me is evil,” she said. “You don’t allow that to happen to a small child.”
She continued, “Her behaviour got worse and worse and worse, so by the time I was a teenager it was just madness,” Scott said. “It taught me strength, that’s for sure. I knew I had to be strong to survive her and it was not easy, but you learn perseverance.”
Reflecting on their increasingly strained relationship, Scott added that she now believes her grandmother suffered from a myriad of undiagnosed mental illnesses.
“If it were today and she was diagnosed, I’m quite sure it would be borderline personality along with a few other things. She also was overly ambitious and naively believed that whatever we had to do to get further ahead in the business was perfectly fine with her, obviously.”
Melody Thomas Scott has played the role of Nikki Newman on the long-running soap opera The Young and the Restless since 1979 and is set to release her memoir Always Young & Restless: My Life On and Off America’s #1 Daytime Drama on August 18th.
