Television host and author Padma Lakshmi on Tuesday wrote that she was raped at age 16, explaining that she sympathizes with sexual assault victims who choose not to come forward right away.

"I am speaking now because I want us all to fight so that our daughters never know this fear and shame and our sons know that girls’ bodies do not exist for their pleasure and that abuse has grave consequences," Lakshmi wrote in a New York Times op-ed.

Lakshmi wrote that she was reminded of her feelings about the incident last week when President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE questioned why Christine Blasey Ford did not file a police report about an allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and groped her during a high school party in the 1980s.

ADVERTISEMENT

Trump on Tuesday questioned the credibility of Deborah Ramirez, who alleged on Sunday that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a party during Kavanaugh's freshman year at Yale.

"I understand why both women would keep this information to themselves for so many years, without involving the police," Lakshmi wrote. "For years, I did the same thing."

Lakshmi, who is an ambassador for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), wrote that she was 16 and dating a 23-year-old man for a few months when he raped her after a New Year's Eve party. She argued for the importance of believing victims of sexual assault, regardless of when they choose to speak about it.

"I have nothing to gain by talking about this," she wrote. "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."

Kavanaugh has denied the allegations by Ford and Ramirez and pledged not to withdraw his nomination.

He and Ford are scheduled to testify about her allegations on Thursday.