Content warning: This article mentions sexual assault and rape.
Award-winning Broadway actress Lea Salonga expressed her support towards all the ‘Jane Does’ that she has met in her life. In her Threads accounts, she recalled the experience of her cousin who was once a victim.
Lea’s post comes after the reopening of the case of the alleged gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity back in 2024. The victim, who was only referred to as ‘Jane Doe’ and a former student of Cornell University, described the alleged assault and rape from seven former and current members of a fraternity of the said university.
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Lea, in a series of posts and reposts on her Threads account, shared her support towards Jane Doe and all the others who spoke about their own horrific experience.
“No, I am not Jane Doe. But I know women who are,” Lea wrote.
“I still clearly remember the day one of my cousins sat me down and told me what had happened to her, at the hands of someone she was supposed to trust. Already I knew him to be a bastard, a lowlife, an asshole from the stories my mother told me of him. And then this new revelation. When I heard he died, I celebrated. If given the chance, I’d dance on his grave,” she added.
When asked by a follower about what she did after her cousin told her, Lea maintained that she believed her cousin immediately as she knew the type of person the undisclosed individual was. She expressed how happy she was when the perpetrator passed away.
“[I] believed her immediately. Given who it was, that wasn’t the hard part. She was already grown with a family of her own, living very far away. When I heard the perp was dead, she was the first person I messaged. We were celebrating,” she said.
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Fans of the actress showed their camaraderie for all the women and the Jane Doe’s in the comment section of her post. Other netizens shared their own experience and how they managed to deal with it.
“Women aren’t angry enough,” a fan wrote.
“All we want is equality, not revenge. Methinks it’s time for the latter,” Lea replied.
Lea has always been vocal about her support towards women empowerment and the LGBTQIA+ Community. Previously, she has opened up about her son, Nic Chien, who she helped transition to who he really is.