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How a Historic Episode of The Oprah Show Changed This Man's Life

Season 5 Episode 509
Aired on 05/23/2015 | CC tv-14
In 2010, The Oprah Winfrey Show had a historic moment: 200 men who had been molested as children came forward. Their brave actions shattered the stigma that male victims of sexual abuse often feel, and helped survivors who had been suffering in silence to release their shame. Among these men was Jordan Masciangelo.

Jordan says that watching his parents go through a divorce when he was a child left him lonely—and made him an easy target. That's when he turned to a close family friend for comfort. "He groomed me for a good year before anything happened," Jordan says. "He talked to me about sex. He made me aware of sexual things, made me believe that I was gay and that what we were doing was more of a secret romance than anything else. He molested me for two or three years."

It all stopped when Jordan's molester tried to touch him at a family party. Jordan says that this time he looked him "straight in the face" and told him no. "I hated myself for years because if that's all that I had to do to get him to stop was tell him, why didn't I do it any earlier? So that was on my shoulders for a long time."

Jordan says he coped with his pain in destructive ways: using drugs, hurting himself, stealing and, eventually, becoming a prostitute.

By the time he appeared on The Oprah Show in 2010, Jordan had already been on the road to recovery. He says the show had a "profound effect" on him and changed his life forever.

Watch the above video to see what happened to Jordan after the show, including how he found true love. Plus, find out what he wants other survivors of sexual abuse to know.

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