Sarah Hyland is opening up about the lingering side effects and trauma from an allegedly abusive relationship nearly a decade ago.
“[The PTSD stays] in that abused place of your soul, where you think it’s your fault the whole time and you could have done better, you could have gotten out sooner, you could have told people,” Hyland, 33, told Variety in an interview published on Thursday, October 24. “It’s almost like you don’t wanna talk about it anymore. You want it to be done, and that’s that. I completely understand the dissociation pattern of it.”
She continued, “I am very much guilty about it myself … until something happens where I’m triggered, and I didn’t realize that part of myself had been healed. I don’t know if that part [of] any woman will ever be fully healed from that. It’s something that kind of scars her soul a little bit.”
The Modern Family alum further revealed that she works to “[put] love towards that scar” instead of “ignoring it.”
Hyland previously was granted a restraining order against now-ex Matt Prokop in 2014, claiming he had choked and verbally abused her during their multiyear relationship.
“His grip was so tight that I could not breathe or speak,” the actress claimed in her court filing, which was obtained by Us Weekly at the time. “I was scared and in fear for my life.”
Hyland’s attorney Lee A. Sherman later told Us that the “documents filed speak for themselves.”
A source close to Hyland subsequently told Us that it was “a really scary situation,” adding, “She’s a strong girl. I have no doubt she will bounce back from this. She’s been through a lot in her life, but she’s still an amazing and strong person. … She just wants to leave this situation behind her.”
Prokop, 34, never publicly addressed the alleged incident at the time, and declined to comment.
Hyland, meanwhile, now wants to use her public platform to support other survivors.
“For thousands of years now, we didn’t talk about it. The community hasn’t shared enough, I believe,” Hyland told Variety. “I feel that if we talk about it more, more women — and men and just human beings, in general, in abusive relationships — will feel more comfortable to be able to talk about it with their loved ones instead of letting their abuser isolate them from everyone, which is the first thing that they do so that you don’t have that community. So we have to keep talking about it. It’s really important to be able to help those in need.”
Hyland was also able to get through the situation with the support from her pets. (She and her husband, Bachelor Nation alum Wells Adams, own multiple dogs together.)
“I wouldn’t have been able to get through a lot of times without my dog. But then, at the same time animals can be used as a manipulation tactic, as well,” Hyland alleged. “Their lives are then, therefore, put on the line [to] try to hurt someone through an animal.”
If you or someone you know are experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
