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In May 2005, Luis and his mother, Marilyn, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Luis says he had been sexually assaulted for years by their stepfather, Marilyn's husband. Marilyn defended her decision to stick by her husband's side even after he admitted to molesting Luis. She said she stayed in the marriage because her husband agreed to enter a sex offender program.
For the next seven years, Marilyn said she lived as the "house police," monitoring her husband's behavior, until one day Luis broke down and the truth came out. Luis admitted that the abuse had not stopped and he was being molested on a daily basis. On the show, Luis explained why he kept his stepfather's horrific secret for so long and defended his mother. "I was trying to protect our family," Luis said. "He could come into our lives and we had food on the table and it was like, 'If I tell, what's my mom going to do with three kids and no job?'"
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