Actress and activist Nadia Jamil took to Twitter to talk about the sexual abuse that she faced as a child. In a country where victims are either shamed into being quiet or are too afraid to speak up, Jamil has brought her pain to the forefront.

She was first sexually abused at the tender age of four and then when she was nine. She also experienced sexual abuse as a teenager on the cusp of young adulthood at 17 or 18.

“It has taken me years to fight depression, sadness fear and a shame I had no business feeling,” she said. “There is a way from the pain to the peace. You are never alone.”

Talking about her trauma is brave on its own but tweeting about it also served the very important purpose of destigmatising child abuse, even if one tweet at a time. Nadia’s tweet also started an important discussion on what parents can do to preempt the abuse of their children.

There was an outpour of love and support for the cancer-surviving actress, who has never shied away from raising her voice and talking about the most painful parts of her life.

Nadia has regularly depended on social media to live through the traumas of her life, with her admitting to Muniba Mazari during a show, “When I was sharing my journey, a lot of people messaged me and I pray for them so much today because when I was all alone and only God and my 13-year-old son were with me, these people would share their own stories or their loved ones who had survived breast cancer. That gave me hope. Because when a person develops cancer, everyone around that person is affected too. So it’s very important for people to constantly support each other.”