Hailing 43.6 million TikTok followers and making a cameo in Taylor Swift‘s “The Man” music video, Loren Gray is one of the most influential young women on the internet right now. She used her platform just weeks ago to reveal to her fans that she was sexually assaulted at age 12 and revealed to HollywoodLife in an EXCLUSIVE interview that she was “overwhelmed” by the response. “There was a lot of support and it was really overwhelming. I kind of logged off for the day,” Loren explained. “Obviously, people are going to have whatever to say, but at the end of the day, if one person could take something from it, that’s all that matters.”
She continued, “It was important for people to know. You don’t always know exactly what you think you do about someone based on what you think you do.” On May 2, Loren told the story of her trauma on TikTok, starting with a younger photo of herself. “I want to tell you my real story. This is me, over five years ago, not long before my 13th birthday. At this time, I had my innocence stolen from me in the basement of someone I trusted. I only told one person and to this day she remains my best friend. We cried in my bathroom together for hours,” she said. “I struggled to put the pieces together as to why this had happened to me. It took two months for me to finally tell my parents. I felt dirty, hopeless, broken and worthless. I was confused and scared. I felt like it was my fault.”
The social media star continued, “I was homeschooled and began making videos to pass the time and ease some of the loneliness and isolation I had felt. People were watching my videos and although I was still struggling, I felt like I had finally found people who cared, regardless of my situation.”
Since revealing her trauma, Loren has dove back into her music career, releasing her latest upbeat song “Cake.” “I wrote it actually before all of this quarantining happened, and I was ordering Postmates and I was thinking, ‘I wish I could just order whatever I wanted!'” she explained. “We were already writing a song about not caring about what someone thinks, and it just all fit together.” Be sure to check out the official video for “Cake” and the latest lyric video so you can sing along!