TikTok influencer Bella Poarch, 26, sobs as she recalls being RAPED while serving in the Navy at age 18 – revealing she tried to take her own life in the wake of the assault while suffering crippling PTSD

TikTok’s ‘most loved’ influencer Bella Poarch broke down in tears as she openly revealed she was raped while serving in the navy aged 18, opening up about how the lasting trauma of the assault forced her to to try to take her own life.

The internet sensation, whose real name is Denarie Bautista Taylor, fought back tears as she discussed the incident with host Alex Cooper on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast.

The 26-year-old, who is originally from the Philippines but moved to the US with her adoptive parents as a child, revealed the trauma she faced at the hands of ‘someone she knew’.

Her attacker was sentenced to four years behind bars, but Bella admitted she is ‘still struggling’ after the assault left her with crippling PTSD.

Bella, who now lives in Los Angeles, said that she really wanted to move out of her childhood home because of a turbulent family dynamic, but that ‘the only way was to join the army’.

She explained that she grew up in an abusive household – and after graduating from high school at the age of 16, she felt the only way for her to escape was to enlist.

Still, she candidly revealed during the podcast that the Navy wasn’t the safe haven she’d hoped for.

She began: ‘I’ve never opened up about this, but something really happened to me in the army.

‘My first year in the army I was sexually assaulted. I was 18 and it was my first duty station.

‘I don’t know, I was very motivated. I was a motivated sailor, I wanted to rank up really fast so I did a lot of extra things like study really hard so I could get my wings – you study aviation and it’s supposed to look good in uniform and on paper .

‘But I studied really hard and I wanted to rank up so I could make more money – and then it happened.

“At first I didn’t want to talk about it, but the women I was surrounded by knew something was wrong.”

Host Alex asked Bella if the person was in a position of power, to which she replied: ‘It was someone I know.’

She continued: ‘I turned up at work and they were like “Why do you have so many cuts on your face? Why do you have bruises on your neck? What’s going on?”

‘I was also late for work that day and I just started crying. I didn’t know if I wanted to say what really happened because I didn’t want anything to change.

‘I worked really hard and I just didn’t want anything to change and we all knew this person. I didn’t want to make things awkward.’

Revealing further harrowing details, Bella said: ‘I fought really hard.

‘I was just very grateful to be surrounded by people who cared about me.

‘They were like forcing me – actually forcing me – to go get the rape kit because you have to go and do it within a certain time.

“I was just like, “I don’t want to,” but they were like, “No, you have to, you have to speak up, this person can’t keep doing this, what if he does it to another girl?” ‘

Bella continued: ‘I went to collect it and it was a long process – a lot of questioning. It was like I was a suspect and they were questioning me.

“And they were like, ‘Oh, did that really happen’ when they clearly saw the physical (wounds).’

She said that it went to court and the offender was sentenced to four years, Bella concluded: ‘That’s it.’

Asked what empowered Bella to come forward, she said: ‘Honestly, I was just thinking about what they said, like what if it’s not the first time he’s done it – and it really wasn’t .

“He did it several times and I think when I came forward, those other women came forward.”

She admitted: ‘I live with so much anxiety because I know he’s out there. I was just scared.

‘I feel it’s so fucked up. I feel there should be a system where when this happens that we know where this person is at all times because four years is not a long time.

‘He could literally do anything. I’ve only been scared for the past few years.’

Bella said she didn’t seek help for two years after discovering she had PTSD – and it wasn’t until her co-workers started noticing her symptoms that she made the decision to seek help.

‘I would be triggered at work. My coworkers would be scared like, “Why are you shaking now?” and it was scary.

‘Sometimes you forget where you are, especially when you get flashbacks and when I see a person who looks like him, my body just shuts down… it’s happened several times.

“I also feel that’s why I try to stay away from crowded places.”

Rather than return home after the incident, Bella chose to transfer to another duty station for a fresh start where people ‘didn’t know what happened.’

She explained that she eventually requested a transfer to Japan, where her adoptive brother was stationed, explaining that – at that time – he was the ‘only person’ she had in her life.

It was also her sibling who encouraged her to seek treatment from a therapist.

‘He was very worried and he was one of those people who pushed me to see a therapist,’ she explained, admitting that she was very reluctant at first, recalling telling him: ‘I was like, ‘No, I’m fine!'”

However, shortly before Bella left the military in 2020, her mental health took a turn for the worse, and she revealed that she tried to take her own life.

“I tried to take my own life a few months before I got out of the military because my PTSD was getting bad,” she recalled.

‘My friends actually found me. I overdosed. I just saw a bottle of Percocet… I had a roommate, she had a bottle of Percocet in her bathroom and I just took the whole thing.

‘It was probably about 40 pills… I was just really depressed. I spoke to a therapist twice a week and I still struggled a lot.’

Asked how she began to heal, she said: ‘I still struggle with it now, but it’s definitely a lot better than it was.’

Bella explained that after her overdose she was taken to the psych ward, and it was there that she met other people who were ‘struggling with the same thing’ and who helped her through her own problems.

“I was basically forced to go to the psych ward and I met a lot of people there who were struggling with the same thing,” she shared. “I think I just needed people who understood me and I needed to talk to people who had gone through the same thing.

‘(It) made me feel a bit better and hopeful.

She also credited her ex-husband, who she met at the age of 19 while they were both serving in the army and were together for seven years, for helping her get through some of the ‘dark times’.

DailyMail.com has contacted the Navy for comment.

Since leaving the Navy, Bella has risen to fame as a TikTok icon and now boasts over 93.1 million followers.

Her biggest claim to fame is a lip sync video to a catchy diss track now titled M to the B from British artist Millie B.

It has been viewed more than 773.5 million times to date and has put her on a path to internet stardom – with a staggering 2.3 billion likes on her content.

However, it was ultimately her fame that led to the end of her marriage, with Bella revealing that her ex-husband struggled to come to terms with her rising success.