“My darkest secret until now”: Uma Thurman’s emotional confession
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Uma Thurman has shared her “darkest secret” in an emotional essay published this week in </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/21/uma-thurman-abortion-law-texas/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Washington Post</span></a></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kill Bill </span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">star criticised the Texas abortion ban after revealing she had an abortion in her “late teens”.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thurman shared her own experience in the hope of “drawing the flames of controversy away from the vulnerable women on whom this law will have an immediate effect”.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“This law is yet another discriminatory tool against those who are economically disadvantaged, and often, indeed, against their partners,” Thurman wrote.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Women and children of wealthy families retain all the choices in the world, and face little risk. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I am grief-stricken, as well, that the law pits citizen against citizen, creating new vigilantes who will prey on disadvantaged women, denying them the choice not to have children they are not equipped to care for, or extinguishing their hopes for the future family they might choose.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In her story, Thurman described how she fell pregnant by accident to “a much older man” while “living out of a suitcase in Europe, far from my family, and about to start a job”.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After seeking advice from her parents, including her gravely ill mother, Thurman came to the decision that she would terminate the pregnancy.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thurman noted that she didn’t have the means to provide a stable home for a newborn at the time, and that her decision then allowed her to have children when she was ready.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The abortion I had as a teenager was the hardest decision of my life, one that caused me anguish then and that saddens me even now, but it was the path to the life full of joy and love that I have experienced,” she wrote.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Choosing not to keep that early pregnancy allowed me to grow up and become the mother I wanted and needed to be.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It has been my darkest secret until now.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I am 51 years old, and I am sharing it with you from the home where I have raised my three children, who are my pride and joy.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thurman shares two children with ex-husband Ethan Hawke, and a daughter with ex-fianc</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">é</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Arpad Busson.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thurman ended the piece by appealing to the women and girls affected by the controversial new law and sharing an inspiring message.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“To all of you - to women and girls of Texas, afraid of being traumatised and hounded by predatory bounty hunters; to all women outraged by having our bodies’ rights taken by the state; and to all of you who are made vulnerable and subjected to shame because you have a uterus - I say: I see you.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Have courage. You are beautiful. You remind me of my daughters.”</span></p>
<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image credit: @umathurman / Instagram</span></em></p>
