Clare Crawley Reveals Sexual Abuse History: This is My Truth…

Recently, Clare Crawley opened up to the Bachelor Nation about the serious medical issues related to her implants.

Many who have received breast implants have experienced side effects like hers and had them removed.

Clare is doing the same, but now explaining why this is an especially emotional decision for her.

For the first time, Clare is revealing that she is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, a trauma that harmed her self-esteem for many years.

Clare took to her Instagram captions to explain the specific history of why she received implants in the first place.

"Self love is the act of giving a voice to your truth," she began.

"So," Clare pronounced, "here is mine."

Clare Crawley Up Close

"As a child of sexual abuse," Clare stated, revealing this horror from her childhood.

She explained that "my young adult years were spent in unhealthy relationships."

Clare added that she spent too many years "feeling unworthy of the good ones."

Clare Crawley Gets Emotional

"It was a vicious cycle," Clare explained of her romantic misadventures as an adult.

It was a cyle "because the more I chose the wrong men who treated me poorly."

Clare continued: "the more I believed I wasn’t good enough."

Clare Crawley Insta Photo

"Enter the breast implants," Clare explained.

"I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to get them," she admitted.

There is of course nothing wrong with cosmetic enhancements ... but they are not a substitute for mental health.

Clare Crawley IG reveals CSA survivor, will remove implants

"But the truth is it was money that would have been better spent on therapy," Clare wrote.

She could have really used this therapy "to heal my wounded heart."

"I ended up spending the money on therapy anyway," Clare added.

Clare Crawley Video Still

"Cut to now," Clare continued.

"A woman who has learned to love herself deeply on the inside," she described herself.

Clare affirmed that she is now a woman who fully "knows her worth, and will fight for herself no matter what."

Clare Crawley with a Smile

"I’ve learned the toxicity that these implants can cause on our bodies," Clare noted.

She acknowledged "as it has done to mine."

"So I am stepping away from something that no longer serves me…" Clare wrote.

Clare Crawley Promo Image

"Not my heart," lClare remarked, "and certainly not my health."

"Surgery is this week!" she declared with some degree of excitement.

"We are taking it back to Clare 1.0," she concluded, "who is lovable and worthy just the way she is."

Clare Crawley for ABC

Childhood trauma in various forms can lead to lifelong struggles with self-worth, mental health, emotional well-being, and even physical problems.

When the abuse is physical and especially sexual in nature, these lifelong struggles often center upon the body.

From defensive eating patterns to discomfort being touched to, in Clare's case, feeling unworthy as she is and wanting to make changes to elicit feelings of self-worth.

Dale Moss and Clare Crawley on a Date

Clare is now in a long-term relationship, having recently celebrated one year with Dale Moss.

Obviously, their romance has had ups and downs and twists and turns along the way.

But only they get to decide what does and does not "count" for their anniversary.

Clare Crawley on Week 2

A healthy adult relationship is not a magical cure for childhood trauma or self image struggles.

But then, neither are breast implants.

In either case, it can serve to make life a little better ... unless it turns toxic. 

Clare Crawley: The Bachelorette 2020

Time, therapy, and work are required to process the trauma from childhood sexual abuse.

Clare might always wonder what her life might be like had she not been a victim as a child. She will never know.

Our hearts go out to her and to other CSA survivors. It took tremendous courage for Clare to share this part of herself.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.