Teri Hatcher was sexually abused by an uncle during her childhood

Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher has revealed she was sexually abused by an uncle during her childhood reports BBC news. Hatcher, 41, tells Vanity Fair her uncle, Richard Hayes Stone, sexually abused her for three or four years, starting when she was five. She said her parents never became aware of what was happening, though her mother seemed to sense something was amiss after Hatcher "went ballistic" when her uncle and aunt were invited to dinner when she was eight or nine reports theage. This is the first time, Hatcher talks publicly about the abuse. In 2002, Hatcher learned that her uncle Stone had been arrested on child molestation charges and that an alleged victim, a 14-year-old girl, had committed suicide.

The actress told Vanity Fair magazine she helped prosecutors by corroborating evidence against her uncle.

Prosecutors say Stone pleaded guilty to four abuse counts after Hatcher got involved and was jailed for 14 years.

His guilty plea meant Hatcher was not called upon to give evidence in court. Without Teri, this case would have been dismissed," Santa Clara County prosecutor Chuck Gillingham told Vanity Fair. "But she volunteered to talk about the most heinous thing that could happen to a child, with no upside for her."

Hatcher, said Stone would manipulate situations so he could be alone to abuse her.

She said: "He pleaded guilty, and even though it wasn't to my crime, it was because of my crime, and that made me feel validated.

"These are haunting things that I've remembered all my life.

"Somehow it might be easier to accept that you're crazy and you made it all up than to admit that it happened, and how awful it was."

The actress had contemplated suicide because of the abuse and was shocked when she heard the victim had shot herself reports BBCnews

She said: "I was just blown over by this girl's pain. I thought, "Boy, that's really close to being me". Any day of the week, I could feel that sort of pain. I haven't tried to kill myself but I have certainly thought about it and then I felt guilty about thinking about it because what's so terrible about my life?"

She added: "The most horrible thing that has stuck with me all my life is that he was touching me and doing things to me, and he said, "Doesn't that feel good?" I said, "No, it doesn't. He said, "Well someday you'll know what I am talking about".

On a lighter note, could this abuse be the root of Teri's stripping in public obsession last year?