“Selling Sunset” star Mary Bonnet recalls being drugged and sexually assaulted by an acquaintance in her new memoir, “Selling Sunshine.”
In an excerpt obtained by People from the book’s sixth chapter titled “Rock Bottom,” the luxury realtor reflects on Memorial Day a decade ago when she met a man whom she only refers to as “Joe,” admitting the “repercussions” of that experience “still haunt [her].”
Bonnet shares that she was invited to Joe’s home in Los Angeles, where she expected to be joined by another friend of theirs whom she had hung out with before. The plan was to “go out with a fun group.”
Joe then offered her a glass of “bright blue liquid” that he claimed was a vodka cocktail. Bonnet writes the drink left her feeling “fuzzy” before she passed out.
“When I woke up, I was on Joe’s bed, with my arms pinned against his mattress, and my pants around my ankles. He was on top of me and inside of me,” she writes.
She left the apartment “bawling and shaking.”
“I had to really put myself back in situations that I never want to be back in again and really think about it to describe the situations properly,” she continues, adding that she had to “talk to [her] therapist quite a bit.”
Following the incident, Bonnet “never [goes] to people’s houses that I don’t know.”
“I won’t be alone with any man that I haven’t been friends with for at least five years or who’s 100 percent gay, so I know I’m safe,” she writes.
In the aftermath, Bonnet, 44, told People that she received support from Amanza Smith and Taye Diggs. She also said ex Jason Oppenheim was “just such a good friend and so comforting and protective.”
She reflected on later confessing the incident to her husband, Romain Bonnet, whom she married in 2018.
“He’s like, ‘Oh baby, I’m sorry you went through that.’ I mean, well, any good husband would. He’s just been very supportive,” she recalled to the outlet.
“Then when I’ve had issues, because with sex, I just subconsciously and involuntarily kind of jump and stuff if I’m touched and I am not expecting it, he’s been very supportive and in that way where he tries not to take it personally and understands it’s just a trigger.”
“Selling Sunshine: Surviving Teenage Motherhood, Thriving in Luxury Real Estate, and Finally Finding My Voice” will be available on Sept. 24.
