The following post contains discussions of domestic abuse.
Sarah Hyland has opened up about surviving domestic abuse, sharing that the trauma she’s carrying “scars her soul” in a deeply candid new interview published on Thursday (October 24).
In September 2014, the actress, who portrayed Haley Dumphy on ABC’s Modern Family, was granted a three-year restraining order against her ex-boyfriend, former actor Matt Prokop, over claims he verbally and physically abused her throughout their five-year relationship. Hyland also accused her Geek Charming co-star, who also appeared on an episode of her ABC comedy, of choking her and threatening her dog’s life, according to Page Six. “His grip was so tight that I could not breathe or speak. I was scared and in fear for my life,” she recalled in the filing at the time.
In a new Variety cover story, the 33-year-old shared, “[The PTSD stays] in that abused place of your soul, where you think it’s your fault the whole time and you could have done better, you could have gotten out sooner, you could have told people.”
Hyland explained that she empathizes with abuse survivors who do “not wanna talk about it anymore” and want to “be done.”
“I completely understand the dissociation pattern of it,” she continued. “I am very much guilty about it myself … until something happens where I’m triggered, and I didn’t realize that part of myself had been healed.” Hyland added that she may never “be fully healed” from her abuse.
“I don’t know if that part [of] any woman will ever be fully healed from that. It’s something that kind of scars her soul a little bit. It’s more so putting love towards that scar instead of hating it and ignoring it.”
The former Love Island USA host — who has moved on with husband and The Bachelor alum Wells Adams, tying the knot in 2022 – has since become outspoken about abuse, encouraging others to do so as well.
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“The community hasn’t shared enough, I believe. And I feel that if we talk about it more, more women — and men and just human beings in general in abusive relationships — will feel more comfortable to be able to talk about it with their loved ones,” she told Variety. “Instead of letting their abuser isolate them from everyone, which is the first thing that they do, so that you don’t have that community. So we have to keep talking about it.”
In May 2024, 10 years after being ordered to keep away from Hyland, the actor was arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend in Texas. According to TMZ, Prokop’s girlfriend reportedly called police over claims he pushed her and shoved her head into an object. He was charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest.
If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233.
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