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Emily Attack has revealed that her first sexual experience was with an 18-year-old boy when she was just 12 in her new documentary.
The 33-year-old TV presenter has filmed the new BBC Two special Emily Attack: Asking For It?, where she delves into the graphic and predatory messages she receives from men on social media on a daily basis.
Although the online harassment began when Emily was cast as Charlotte Hinchcliffe on The Inbetweeners in 2008, the star says she remembers being “afraid of men” as a teenager and remembers being touched without her consent at parties.
In the hour-long special, which airs Jan. 31, the star sits down with a group of 16-year-old schoolgirls to hear about their experience with cyber-flashing that began for some of them as young as 11.
All eight girls Emily spoke to confirmed they had received an unwanted ‘shit picture’ of men on their social media, with one saying her school uniform made her feel ‘more vulnerable than anything’ she owned.
After her conversation with the students, Emily said: “It hit me hard to hear those girls at school because it really made me reflect on the kind of things I went through as a teenager.”
‘My first sexual experience with an 18-year-old boy was [when I was] 12. Men scared me, they were always inappropriate with me from such a young age.’
“What I’ve been told in therapy over the years is that I found a way to cope and that was by opening up to boys and men from a very young age.”
Emily Attack has bravely opened up about the vile messages being sent to her by male fans in her new documentary.
Emily says the online bullying started when she landed a starring role in The Inbetweeners in 2008
Later in the documentary, Emily opened up to sexual abuse and violence counselor Theresa Cabot about the discomfort she feels looking back on those experiences now.
Visibly emotional, Emily said: “At the time when I was having sex and using my body to get what I wanted out of a situation, I thought that’s what I had to do.”
“I didn’t like it, it was painful. I found myself in situations where I was so drunk that I would wake up and things would happen to me… things like that.
‘I hate myself [for it]. Like, stop causing trouble! Be like all the other boys, like all the other girls. Having other interests besides making out with boys and doing makeup.
Emily’s mother, Kate (pictured), broke down in tears after reading some of the sexually explicit messages her daughter receives on Instagram every day.
Emily with her father Keith Attack. The star previously said that hers’ “entire world of hers collapsed” following her parents’ separation from her.
Although Emily said that she had become “behavioral” as a teenager, the counselor pointed out that it was not her fault that older men took advantage of her.
Elsewhere in her documentary, the star’s mother, Kate Robbins, broke down in tears after reading some of the sexually explicit messages Emily receives on a daily basis.
The show exposes how an obsessed fan, known only by the username ‘Daddy Dave’, sends Emily hundreds of messages on Instagram every day, telling her to look at her photos while his wife and kids are sleeping.
Additionally, the star says he wakes up to numerous unsolicited photos of fans’ penises on social media every morning and is often asked to send them nude selfies in return.
Having seen some of the messages, Kate said: ‘I didn’t expect it to be so vile. I felt that my daughter had been raped and I couldn’t protect you. It was double.
Although Emily admitted she felt “sick to her stomach” for upsetting her mother, the star said she had wanted to talk to Kate about cyber-flashing and her early sexual experiences for a long time.
Emily told her mother, ‘I need someone to sit there and say, ‘It’s not your fault these things happened.’
Kate responded: ‘Are you talking about all the things that have happened to you in your sexual life that shouldn’t have happened?’
Emily says that talking to a group of schoolgirls stirred up emotions about what she went through as a teenager.
Emily in character as Charlotte Hinchcliffe in 2008. Emily says the online abuse started around this time.
“Yes,” said the star. I’m really damaged by a lot of it. really damaged. And I know it’s been hard for you to talk about it, but it’s important.
As Emily fought back tears over the ‘awkward’ topic, her mother said: ‘It’s not your fault. Very sorry [you’ve felt] like it was all your fault and it obviously isn’t. She was just trying to do things to protect you as a mother.
In an interview with The times In December 2020, Emily explained how her “whole world collapsed” when her parents Kate Robbins and Keith Atack split after 19 years together in 2006.
The actress admitted that she was pulled out of high school because she was bullied and later became depressed before moving in with her older sister, Martha.
She said: ‘I got away from mom, started dating boys, smoking and drinking. I stopped listening and did what I wanted, and when she was 14 she was seeing this much older boy.
Emily has confessed that she “clung on” to her boyfriend after her father left the family home and was “pushed around” by a group of girls who “terrorized” her for two years because of their relationship.
However, Emily has never specified if this boyfriend was the one with whom she had a sexual experience at the age of 12.