Stars Ashley Judd, Mira Sorvino and more have posted the reasons for their years of silence before reporting allegations of sexual assault

The actor Cara Delevingne is among stars who have taken to Twitter to explain why they delayed coming forward with stories of sexual assault.

“I felt ashamed of what happened and didn’t want to publicly ruin someone’s life,” wrote Delevingne, using the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport. This was coined in the aftermath of the allegations dating back 36 years against supreme court judge nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

President Trump on Wednesday repeated his feeling that the time lag between alleged incident and public complaint meant such stories lacked credibility.

Delevingne is one of a number of high-profile actors who has accused producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. Writing in October 2017, she detailed an incident at an unknown time during which Weinstein made unwanted advances towards her, after instructing another woman to kiss her in a hotel room.

“I was so hesitant about speaking out,” wrote Delevingne on Instagram. “I didn’t want to hurt his family. I felt guilty as if I did something wrong. I was also terrified that this sort of thing had happened to so many women I know but no one had said anything because of fear.”

Weinstein faces multiple charges of rape and non-consensual sex, all of which he denies.

Two other of his accusers also tweeted their experiences – though not necessarily those involving Weinstein – using the hashtag.

Mira Sorvino, whose alleged attack by Weinstein took place more than 20 years before she testified for Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker expose, said:

Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) #WhyIDidntReport because the first time I did for a serious sexual assault as a teenager nothing came of it, and later I felt that I wasn’t important enough to make a big deal over. I was wrong.

Ashley Judd, who alleges an attack by Weinstein in 1997, said:

ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) #WhyIDidntReport. The first time it happened, I was 7. I told the first adults I came upon. They said “Oh, he’s a nice old man, that’s not what he meant.” So when I was raped at 15, I only told my diary. When an adult read it, she accused me of having sex with an adult man.

Thousands of women have shared their experiences on Twitter. Writing in the New York Times on Wednesday, the author and TV star Padma Lakshmi explained why she had delayed speaking out about a series of assaults, starting when she was seven.

“I understand why both women [who had accused Kavanaugh] would keep this information to themselves for so many years, without involving the police. For years I did the same thing. On Friday I tweeted about what had happened to me so many years ago,” Lakshmi wrote.

“Now, 32 years after my rape, I am stating publicly what happened. I have nothing to gain by talking about this. But we all have a lot to lose if we put a time limit on telling the truth about sexual assault and if we hold on to the codes of silence that for generations have allowed men to hurt women with impunity.”

On Wednesday, a third woman came forward to share her evidence of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh.