Podcaster and TV star GK Barry, real name Grace Keeling, has revealed she was raped at the age of 17 while doing work experience for a media company near her childhood home in Suffolk. She shares the ordeal in her new book, It’s Giving Life: A Guide To Surviving And Thriving by GK Barry, in the hope it will help others avoid the same agony she experienced ten years ago.
Years to acknowledge the assault
The 27-year-old, who rose to fame via TikTok in 2022 and later appeared on ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, said it took her years to acknowledge what had happened. She decided to include the experience after learning that almost a quarter of women have been raped or sexually assaulted from the age of 16.
Posting on social media, she wrote: “This is the first time I’ve spoken about a chapter in my book that I’ve never shared publicly before. When I was 17 I was raped and I’ve spent the last 10 years not telling anyone out of fear.”
Details of the assault in the book
In the book, Grace describes how the man who was her manager during a week of work experience offered to give her a lift in on her second day. “He was about 27 so around ten years older, attractive, tattooed and muscly, and I was impressed by him – I was flattered that he was giving me the time of day,” she writes. “However, as we were driving in that morning, he kept touching my leg which was making me feel uncomfortable although I didn’t feel able to ask him to stop. There was a massive imbalance of power going on which he was 100 per cent taking advantage of, banking on the fact I wouldn’t push back.”
He assaulted her that day, and the rape took place on the last day of her week with the company. She writes: “At 4pm on my last day, he kicked out the two other members of staff who were there, leaving only me and him in the building. I start to panic because I feel like I know what’s about to happen but I’m powerless to stop it. He signals me towards a side room, making a point of saying there are no cameras in there and I go in because, again, there’s no ability in my body to refuse. I’m also pretty certain he’s locked the office, so I’m trapped.”
Hope to help others
She now reflects: “I wish I’d known that it wasn’t my fault. I wish I’d known what to be on guard for. I’d had no idea that rape can take so many different forms and it doesn’t always look the way you expect. I think we imagine it to be a stranger attack in a dark alley, but it’s far more likely to happen between people who know each other – friends, partners, classmates or colleagues.”
Grace has been speaking with the charity Rape Crisis, saying: “I’ve been speaking with an amazing charity Rape Crisis who I wish I’d known about at the time. They offer 24/7 support and advice if anyone needs it.” Her book, published by Penguin, includes an overview written by the star, who says it is not an autobiography or self-development guide, but simply shares details of life as she has experienced it so far.
