Thanks to Geoff West.
Patrick Stewart comforts abuse victim
Star Trek actor gives impromptu and moving speech about violence against women.
Corrina Allen, May 30, 2013
https://www.theloop.ca/showbiz/movies/news/article/-/a/2453718/Patrick-Stewart-comforts-abuse-victim
Sir Patrick Stewart was the main attraction at Houston’s Comicpalooza where he spoke movingly about his work combating domestic violence after one fan told him how a speech he once gave on the topic changed her life.
Heather Skye attended Stewart’s talk at the festival and prefaced her question by thanking him for a speech he’d made previously about violence against women. Skye says that the speech helped her to define the trauma she went through, allowing her to “correctly call [her experience] abuse.” After hearing Stewart speak, Skye “didn’t feel guilty or disgusting anymore,” she explained, “I finally didn’t feel responsible for the abuse that was put upon me.”
Then Skye asked him about his passions outside of his acting career and it turns out that what Stewart holds near and dear to his heart is his work with a UK organization called Refuge. A safe house for women and children, Refuge, says Stewart is incredibly important to him because of his own experience with domestic abuse when he was a child. “I do what I do in my mother’s name because I couldn’t help her then. Now I can,” he told the crowd. Then he spoke at length about his recent discovery that his abusive father was suffering from undiagnosed and untreated PTSD, so he also does work with soldiers at an organization called Combat Stress.
After he’d shared these very personal stories, Stewart asked Skye if she was okay and offered her a hug. The fan wrote about the experience on her blog. “He held me there for a long while. He told me ‘You never have to go through that again, you’re safe now.’ I couldn’t stop thanking him,” she wrote. “His embrace was so warm and genuine. It was two people, two strangers, supporting and giving love. And when we pulled away he looked strait in my eyes, like he was promising that. He told me to take care. And I will.”
Watch the video of Stewart and Skye’s interaction below. (Warning: your heart may burst out of your chest with love for this man, and I recommend having some tissues handy.)