Ronald Regan's daughter, Patti Davis (pictured), has revealed her own experience of sexual assault as a means of explaining why Christine Blasey Ford could not be expected to remember every detail of her alleged assault by Brett Kavanaugh

The daughter of former President Ronald Regan and First Lady Nancy Davis has come out swinging in defense of Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.

In a bombshell op-ed for the Washington Post, Patti Davis detailed her own experience with sexual assault, claiming she had been raped by a music executive nearly 40 years ago.

The piece was released as Donald Trump questioned why Ford had not reported her assault to police when it occurred, and chose this moment to come forward.

Davis was joined with other high-profile figures, such as Alyssa Milano and Ashley Judd, and journalist Thomas Roberts, in sharing their stories of abuse using the #WhyIDidntReport, and explaining why they did not report them or come forward at the time.

Many cited the poor treatment of other survivors who had come forward in the past, with Miss Michigan Emily Siome noting she had 'never seen a survivor come forward and be treated with dignity', and others claiming their young age at the time made them an unreliable witness to the adults they trusted to fight for them.

When Davis was assaulted, she said she and the music executive had been in a 'suspiciously late' meeting to discuss her songwriting, when he offered her cocaine before launching himself on her.

'He crossed the room,' Davis wrote.

'There was a dark-green carpet, but his footsteps seemed loud, hard. He was against me, on top of me - so quickly - with his hands under my skirt and his mouth on mine, that I froze.

'I lay there as he pushed himself inside me. The leather couch stuck to my skin, made noises beneath me. His breath smelled like coffee and stale bread. He didn't use a condom.'

Davis explained the way she remembered her own assault - with inconsequential details such as the date it took place and what happened directly after seeming blurry, while the attack itself remained crystal clear - was similar to the way Ford remembered her own.

Ford, a renowned psychologist, has been slammed in recent days for being unable to recollect specific details about the address she was at or when exactly the assault took place.

Christine Blasey Ford (pictured) has alleged Brett Kavanaugh, who has been nominated as a justice of the Supreme Court, sexually assaulted her while the pair were high school students

Kavanaugh has denied he claims made against him, and President Donald Trump has defended his nominee, suggesting if Ford had been so traumatized she should have gone to the police after it happened. Supporters of Kavanaugh have also slammed the psychologist for her failure to remember every specific detail of the night she was assaulted

'It's important to understand how memory works in a traumatic event,' she wrote.

Davis said despite Ford being unable to perfectly recall some details: 'Her memory of the attack itself is vivid and detailed'.

'His hand over her mouth, another young man piling on, her fear that maybe she'd die there, unable to breathe.

'That's what happens: Your memory snaps photos of the details that will haunt you forever, that will change your life and live under your skin. It blacks out other parts of the story that really don't matter much.'

Davis was one of many high profile people who have come out this week, telling their own story in defense of Ford - who has copped criticism for the handling of her situation from people around the country, including the President.

On Friday morning, Trump tried to discredit Ford by noting there were no charges filed by the psychologist or her parents when the incident happened.

Trump broke his pattern of avoiding mentioning Christine Ford's name on Friday, saying that 'if the attack... was as bad as she says' there must be a law-enforcement report somewhere

The president also needled Democrats who have demanded an FBI probe, saying that they should have called the agency 36 years ago

Christine Blasey (now Ford) and Brett Kavanaugh are pictured in their high school yearbooks

'I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local law enforcement authorities by either her or her loving parents,' he wrote.

'I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!'

Ford has previously said she spoke to no one of her experience until 2012, when she and her husband discussed it in therapy.

Your memory snaps photos of the details that will haunt you forever, that will change your life and live under your skin. It blacks out other parts of the story that really don't matter much. Patti Davis on remembering her sexual assault decades later

Since Trump's tweet, the hashtag: 'Why I didn't report' has gone viral, with men and women both sharing why they did not go to the police after they were sexually assaulted.

#MeToo leader Alyssa Milano led the charge, sharing her own reasons before asking fellow survivors to share their own stories.

'Hey, [Donald Trump], listen the f**k up,' she wrote.

'I was sexually assaulted twice. Once when I was a teenager. I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell me parents.'

Miss Michigan, Emily Sioma, told her followers she'd 'never seen a survivor come forward and be treated with dignity', stopping her from taking action against her attacker.

Journalist Thomas Roberts said he has waited 20 years to take any legal action, and had contemplated suicide in place of coming forward as someone who had been abused by his priest, a man he described as his 'hero'.

Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi told of her three experiences with sexual assault, explaining the different reasons she felt it was better to stay silent each time.

Lakshmi says she was seven the first time she was assaulted. When she told her family, she said she was sent away.

The second time, she said she felt 'horrified and ashamed' after she was drugged by her boyfriend, and noted there was no support or culture of coming forward in the 80s for women who had been abused in a relationship.

The third time, Lakshmi says she struggled with the same issues Siome did - having seen the way other women were treated when they came forward with allegations of sexual assault, she did not feel safe.

'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",' tweeted activist Ashley Judd, one of dozens of women who accused Harvey Weinstein of harassment.

'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,' she added.