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Selling Sunset star Amanza Smith, 46, has bravely revealed that she was sexually abused as a child by two members of her family. She claimed she was abused by her stepfather and her stepfather’s dad in a revealing and emotionally raw cover interview with Mr. Warburton Magazine released in December. In addition to the sexual abuse, she said she was physically and emotionally abused by her mother.
“I put on a very strong face, which comes from the fact that from the time I was three years old, I was sexually abused by someone very close to me, and I had to pretend it was not happening,” she recalled to the publication. Amanza, who was allegedly abused until she was 11 years old, said she felt like she had “no safe place” as a child. She also kept a guard up and even denied her past — until she could no longer do so.
“Until God gave me a baby girl, it did not click. It hit me one day when my daughter was almost two, and I was pregnant with my son,” she explained. “I imagined everything that happened to me happening to her. And it changed everything. Suddenly everything made sense. All of the things I had struggled with in my teens, addiction in my 20s, ways I felt I failed, was not motivated, and felt in some way different from my friends.”
Once the famous realtor came to terms with her past, she was able to work on the trauma she suppressed for so long. “I truly believe that everything happens for a reason,” she theorized. “I would change nothing in my life. I would be born again, and I would live the exact same life of trauma and abuse. I would do it all over again because I am strong enough. I was chosen to go through that. Now I can be a voice to help others get through it.”
She later added that she hopes speaking out will encourage others to get the help they need if they, like her, avoided the abuse they received for years. “I’ve done so much work, which has changed how I live my life. I hope that other people can see this interview and talk about it sooner,” she noted. “It’s a weight off your shoulders and the only way to take your power back.”
Before making her reality television debut, Amanza was a model on the hit game show, Deal or No Deal. She was previously married to former NFL player Ralph Brown between 2010 and 2012, and shares her daughter, Noah, and son, Baker, with him. Unfortunately, just one month after signing her Selling Sunset contract, Ralph “vanished into thin air”, as Mr. Warburton Magazine put it. She said the life-altering experience also encouraged her to work on her past trauma.
Mr. Warburton Magazine contacted Amanza’s mother and stepfather for comment on her allegations. Her mother did not respond, while her stepfather confirmed their relationship but did not comment on the sexual abuse claims. Amanza’s step-grandfather died when she was 15 years old.