In this moment, I find myself looking back on a road that almost broke me and amazed that I’m still standing...

As I begin to tell you my story, please know that it is painful. Even so, I wish to do so for all the victims out there so that...

I’ve often wondered what drove me to have those wicked thoughts of wanting to commit suicide. Did I, in fact, have a mental illness?...

You never think it’s going to be you until it is. And then it is...

Growing up, I’ve noticed that many people, especially men, think they are entitled to a lot from a woman. They think they have the right...

Although my parents worked very hard, we were a poor family. We often didn’t have the money for heating in the winter...

If you didn’t know, The Troubles refer to a nasty civil dispute that spanned over 30 years between the British and Irish...

My father was registered as a sex offender. Over time, my father lost all rights to see me, while my mother’s supervised visits were...

I grew up watching over my shoulder and trying to keep the peace in our home. Though I breathed the air of misfortune, it did not affect...

I often felt fearful as a young girl. My parents struggled to provide for us, causing an air of tension in our home. But if I wanted...

This was the day I was born, miraculously, to a drug-addicted mother who couldn’t take care of me. I was born with fetal alcohol syndrome...

Most living things remain what they were at birth, however, a butterfly was once a caterpillar, and at the risk of waxing poetic, I...

While watching my mother work so hard, I wanted a better bargain at life, a new city and with new destiny. Nothing—I had decided—would...

Most of my fond memories were spending time with my parents and two younger siblings: putting up the Christmas tree together; enjoying...

I grew up with a warped understanding of love and received little attention from my parents. I searched for affection all my life, but...

At the time, Pablo Escobar, a drug lord and narco-terrorist, was wreaking havoc in Colombia and my parents didn’t feel that living there...

My life can be best compared to a Lifetime movie. When I tell people about my upbringing, it’s unbelievable to them, but it happened...

People look at me and think they see a girl that has it all together. I rent a condo on my own, I have a loving boyfriend, and...

I did not have an easy beginning. The terror of sexual abuse haunted my adolescence, but I didn’t let that stop me from rising above it...