Ever since Gal Gadot played Wonder Woman, she’s become an icon of feminism and every girl’s dream superhero. This is why it’s surprising to see a blog post accusing her of blaming a rape victim.
An unnamed Israeli actress wrote an entry on Medium titled “Here’s How Gal Gadot Actually Responded When My Friend Raped Me.” She detailed that she was roomies with Gal 13 years ago and that they hung out often. Gal would also give her advice on modeling and being careful around men. “Gal told me about men who followed models around to casting calls. They were paid by clubs to convince models like us to join them at these clubs in exchange for expensive food, drinks, publicity photos, and VIP treatment. Gal told me to never trust these men, because they rape.”
Even though Gal was depicted as a trustworthy friend, it went downhill after the unnamed actress was raped by a man named Yaniv. “I remember thinking that we were going home so that I would sleep on the couch, as Gal and I had before. I woke up in Yaniv’s bed, naked. He had removed my clothes when I was unconscious. I remember him climbing on top of me. I could just barely say ‘no,’ and ‘this isn’t right.’ Then I blacked out.”
The actress then told Gal about the incident, but instead of sympathy, she allegedly got mad and blamed her for what happened. “She stood over me, intimidating and loud, blaming me for what happened. Her eyes were fire. I had already felt small and violated, but she shamed me into feeling obsolete. I felt extremely dirty. Already in shock, I disassociated from my body. I can’t remember most of her words. I remember being in utter terror of her anger,” she wrote.
This comes as a surprise since Gal recently denounced producer Brett Ratner, who’s facing sexual assault allegations. She also pushed for his dismissal from the Wonder Woman 2 production. Otherwise, she won’t reprise her role.
The post has since been taken down by Medium but some netizens are still able to read and share it via a cache link. However, some are also not convinced by the story.
Still, this is a serious accusation against Gal and she must respond to it. As Wear Your Voice noted, Gal and her team should provide the necessary evidence to discredit the story if it is, indeed, false. “Instead, there is radio silence, as if these accusations do not matter,” they wrote.
