Alyssa Milano has praised the #MeToo movement as "beautiful".
The 46-year-old actress was one of the first women to speak out against disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein – who has been accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by dozens of women – and championed the start of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements in 2017, which have seen women across the world share their harassment stories in the hopes of sparking change.
Recently Alyssa shared her own #MeToo story when she claimed that she was was assaulted on a movie set "almost 25 years" ago by a "very visible" alleged abuser, and has now said her decision to come forward was made after she felt as though she needed to be as brave as the other women who have spoken about abuse through the #MeToo hashtag.
Speaking during an appearance on ‘The View’, she said: "The beautiful thing that happened from #MeToo is that I have women from all over the world who who see me and come over to me and share their stories of sexual assault. They have given me the courage to not only share my stories … Part of this for me was very personal, but also what I felt like I needed to do for the women that have shared their stories with me."
Meanwhile, the ‘Charmed’ alum previously said she’s so passionate about activism that she would give up her acting career if she needed to.
She said: "I just really believe that if I stay … If my integrity stays intact and I stay true to who I am and what I believe in – which is equality, and that every child deserves a healthy happy childhood – I have to stay true to that. And if it means I’m not gonna work in this industry, then I’m not gonna work in this industry. But at least I can go to bed knowing that I fought the good fight."
Alyssa – who has son Milo, eight, and daughter Elizabella, five, with her husband Dave Bugliari – has been an activist since she was a teenager, and admits she wouldn’t know how to "function" if she gave it up.
She added: "And also, I’ve been an activist since I was 15 years old. For me, I don’t know any other way to function, like I can’t not be vocal about issues. So that would be disingenuous, I have to be organic to myself and right now there’s a lot to fight for."