When the cast was brought back to Mexico following the Corinne/DeMario scandal on ‘Bachelor in Paradise,’ they were all questioned — and Raven got extremely personal during the segment.
Raven Gates, 25, just made an honest and brave confession on Bachelor in Paradise. Following the scandal that temporarily shut down production, the cast returned to filming, and she revealed that the Corinne Olympics/DeMario Jackson situation really touched her.
“A lot of people don’t know this that I was in a very abusive relationship and there was a point where I was sexually assaulted and so I guess that’s why I took this kind of really personally,” Raven said to the group and Chris Harrison. “So I hope this situation doesn’t deter actual victims from coming forward and really speaking their truth and getting help and asking for help. I hope this doesn’t deter anybody.”
Following her confession, Derek Peth leaned over and squeezed her shoulder; America didn’t know the two were close, but she took to Twitter during the episode and revealed he was always extremely supportive of her.
Raven was one of the cast members who spoke out during the production pause, actually getting into a Twitter argument when people villainized DeMario. However, she made a point during BiP to say that she was not slut-shaming Corinne by standing up for DeMario. She was just stating that nothing was wrong on either side. When someone tweeted to Raven saying, “You’re contributing to a culture that makes it nearly impossible to convict rapists,” she quickly responded. “You’re contributing to the culture of accusing African American men of a crime they didn’t commit,” she wrote.
The race was also brought up on the episode and Raven admitted that in the south, there is a stigma that claims it’s “wrong” for a black man and a white woman to be together; with that, she stated it wasn’t wrong, and what they did wasn’t wrong either.
Source: http://hollywoodlife.com/2017/08/15/raven-gates-sexually-assaulted-abusive-relationship-bachelor-in-paradise/
