“The Valley” Star Janet Caperna Says She Didn’t ‘Realize’ She Was Sexually Assaulted at Age 12 Until Going to Therapy
“The Valley” Star Janet Caperna Says She Didn’t ‘Realize’ She Was Sexually Assaulted at Age 12 Until Going to Therapy
Brenton BlanchetThu, July 9, 2026 at 8:32 PM UTC
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Janet Caperna on ‘Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen’Credit: Jordan Curtis Hughes/Bravo via Getty -
The Valley’s Janet Caperna shared an emotional message after opening up about a past sexual assault on the latest episode
The reality star shared the message on Instagram, letting fellow survivors know that “on your hardest days, you are not alone”
“So many people share this pain and experience,” she wrote
The Valley starJanet Caperna is opening up about her healing journey after a sexual assault.
The reality star, 36, shared a message on Instagram on Wednesday, July 8, shortly after the release of an episode in which she told friend Lala Kent about the “pain and trauma” she faced at age 12 when she was sexually assaulted by a classmate at school.
She didn’t anticipate the release of the episode would hit her “so hard,” she wrote on Instagram.
“I had months to prepare knowing this was going to come out, and decades before that working through the trauma, but nothing can really prepare you for the date arriving,” Caperna wrote. “I planned on talking to family and friends that I never told about this before it aired, and I failed. Many people I know, love and trust will hear my story for the first time on a reality TV show instead of directly from me. And I’m sorry to those that had to hear it this way. Making my planned round of calls and telling people in person proved more than I could handle. I chickened out. I didn’t want to take a beautiful day and darken it with my trauma.”
Janet Caperna attends the L.A. premiere of ‘Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen’ on March 19, 2026Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty
Caperna added that “what’s done is done” and that her story is now “yours,” referring to the show’s viewers.
“I spent today not being able to move. Quietly crying when my son was distracted. Sick to my stomach and having to ask Jason to pick up my slack and step away from work to do the daily tasks I usually do without thinking,” she wrote of her husband and fellow The Valley star, Jason Caperna, with whom she shares son Cameron, 2.
“To my fellow survivors (a word I am still uncomfortable using for myself), please know that on your hardest days, you are not alone,” she added. “And I can’t help but think how unfortunate that is. That so many people share this pain and experience. That others have days like today where they feel paralyzed and debilitating pain because of another person’s violating actions.”
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Janet wrote that she “never imagined that this would stick with me for so long” and that she was “unable to fully process it” at the time.
“I dealt with what happened that night in the dark under the fluorescent lights of school for years in the form of name calling, relentless bullying and judgment. For me, that was worse than the act itself,” she wrote. “My biggest trigger is the reaction many have to this sort of trauma: victim blaming, punishment for speaking up, taking sides and all of the ugliness it brings out of everyone involved. And I have obviously not always handled those triggers well. And to those that watched and felt the wrath of my anger, I am so sorry.”
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At the end of her letter, Janet thanked her mom for “doing everything she could to help me heal,” her husband for his “unwavering love and support” and the “family and friends that protected me then and now,” as well as costar Kent, 35, whom she thanked for being a “safe space.”
“To our producers and crew who gave me space to tell my story and handling it with care. To anyone else that has been through something similar and still feels broken, you are not alone in that. Thank you Jasmine [Goode] and Melissa [Carelli] for your forgiveness and allowing us to repair our friendship that means everything to me,” she wrote. “Thanks to the therapists that spent hours helping me heal and give me the tools to navigate the world. And to all of you for listening, and reading this until the very end.”
Janet’s story was featured in season 3 episode 15 of The Valley, when she told Kent about the moment when a boy “put his hands on me” as a child. At the time, she and Kent were discussing Janet reacting to Danny Booko’s behavior, when he touched costar Jasmine Goode inappropriately while drunk.
In a confessional, she said she “didn’t even really realize” what her experience as a child was until a year ago when a therapist told her it was sexual assault.
Jason showed support for Janet underneath the post on Wednesday, writing, “I love you and am extremely proud of you.”
“Cameron is lucky to have you as an example of strength and courage to look up to,” he wrote.
New episodes of The Valley air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
