In her memoir, "Boys in the Trees," Carly Simon wrote about a teenager identified only as "Billy," the son of friends of her parents who rented a house near Simon's family one summer. Simon, 7 years old at the time, caught him, 16, spying on her older sister, Lucy, while sunbathing. Shortly thereafter, Billy turned his attentions to Carly, and a series of physical encounters took place over that summer, and subsequent summers as well. Simon had convinced herself that the abusive relationship was consensual. "I thought I was in a romance," she told People.
She told her older sisters about what were essentially assaults right away, and while she thinks they didn't believe her, they must have told their mother, because she banished Billy from the family home — for one month. "Which in retrospect feels like a strangely mild response," Simon wrote. What she called "interludes" went on for six years. "It was heinous," Simon said. "It changed my view about sex for a long time."
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
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