Preloading

Iyanla's Advice to a Pulse Shooting Survivor: Return and Walk Away on Your Own Terms

Season 4 Episode 423
Aired on 06/07/2017 | CC
On June 12, 2016, 25-year-old Chris Littlestar was hiding in a bathroom stall at Orlando's Pulse nightclub while a gunman opened fire in a deadly siege on terrified clubgoers. Despite being shot five times, Chris was among the 50-plus people who survived the horrific attack that claimed the lives of 49 others. He now bears physical scars from the shooting, but it's the emotional scarring that Chris hopes Iyanla can help address.

Although survivors like Chris have displayed incredible resilience in the aftermath of the tragedy, Iyanla believes it's time to allow their buried feelings to come to the surface. "You're not going to move forward until you can look at those scars and feel the pain, the fear," she tells Chris. "See, everybody's stuck at Pulse. You're still there."

To help Chris and five other survivors free themselves from the pain and fear, Iyanla suggests something she knows they may resist: returning to the nightclub.

"The way you left that night wasn't your choice. What I want to offer you is an opportunity to walk up and walk away by choice," she says. "When you choose to go and choose to walk away, then when you come home and you see the scars, they're going to have a different meaning."

Tune in to see Iyanla's work with Chris and five other survivors on the season finale of Iyanla: Fix My Life Saturday, June 3, at 9/8c.

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