By Riley Huston
August 16, 2018

MaeOla Bolton was born into a family destined for greatness. After all, her sister is Olympic Gold Medalist Ruthie Bolton. MaeOla was the 15th of 20 children and the daughter of a Baptist minister from Mississippi, nearly everyone in their small town of McLain (current population, 1,800) knew MaeOla and her siblings. At their family church, the Boltons not only ran the show, they were the show. The children made up the choir and their father led the sermons. The Bolton family was a staple and symbol of pride in their community.

MaeOla and her sister, Ruthie, loved basketball. It was their first love and a passion they shared with one another. “We played basketball all day and sang all night,” MaeOla says of their childhood.

MaeOla and Ruthie both played in high school and college. MaeOla played in the Professional European league in Italy and Spain, and Ruthie even went on to win gold in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. MaeOla had desired to do the same, but a brutal car accident in 1993 stole that dream from her, leaving her with a broken neck and years of physical and emotional therapy. Yet, this car crash couldn’t crush her determination. MaeOla recovered and went on to briefly play professionally in the WNBA. Sadly, complications from the accident forced her to walk away from the game entirely in 1998.

Despite the accolades, MaeOla and Ruthie both lived every day with a painful secret. Ruthie, a survivor of domestic violence, shared her story with us in 2016 as part of our campaign to end domestic violence, #PutTheNailinIt. MaeOla helped us to coordinate the interviews and photoshoots with her sister. Little did we know that MaeOla had her own important story to tell.

MaeOla’s Story of Surviving Childhood Sexual Abuse

MaeOla has since disclosed that one of her brothers sexually abused her during her adolescence. At Safe Horizon, we know that when a child is sexually abused, it’s almost always by someone known to the victim and with easy access to the child. MaeOla didn’t come forward about her abuse until she became concerned that another young girl in her family could be exposed to the same behavior.

MaeOla, not one to let things fester in adulthood, gathered the family at a retreat in 2004 after their parents had passed. She confronted the issue head-on, revealing her own abuse and calling on everyone in the family to take steps to stop it from happening to anyone else, saying, “I was the first one to start talking about it in the family. They need to know who this person is to protect their own kids.”

When asked why she’s coming forward publicly after so many years, she said she wants to be a voice and advocate for those who are ashamed and fearful about what has happened to them. This is a common response we see in survivors of sexual abuse—a desire to prevent the abuse from happening to others and support them. MaeOla was also inspired by the #MeToo movement to tell her story in the hopes that she can inspire others to address their own abuse and begin working towards healing.

MaeOla’s story, sadly, is not an uncommon one. Many survivors of childhood sexual abuse don’t come forward until years later due to fear of retaliation, suppressed memories, or even fear of damage to their reputation. For MaeOla, being from a rural town in the South where her family was such a bastion of pride in the community made her fear that disclosing her abuse would bring shame to their reputation in the community. “Why damage the reputation of all of us over one person’s actions?” MaeOla remembers thinking.

Healing from Trauma, Advocating for Survivors

Despite her experience, MaeOla has fought long and hard for a life full of achievement and enrichment for herself and others. In 2012, she was diagnosed with PTSD from her abuse and the car accident and began regular therapy and medication to help with her symptoms. After a year of treatment, MaeOla decided that she wanted to shift her lifestyle to combat her PTSD without medication, saying, “I started exercising more, eating better and paying more attention to my sleep patterns.” These changes proved to be very helpful for her and helped her feel like she had control of her life again.

This lifestyle shift also led MaeOla to begin working on a new initiative, BodyByBolton, which she says, “focuses on the connection between childhood trauma and health and wellness, including self-esteem, overall healthy habits, balance, nutrition and an optimal healthy lifestyle change.”

As MaeOla continues her mission to help survivors of childhood sexual abuse and other traumatic experiences, she hopes to see more and more survivors come forward and tell their stories. When they do, she wants to be there to help. She is also launching an advocacy campaign to educate and bring resources to this critical issue. SpeakUpSpeakOut will help free survivors by providing creative platforms to share their stories so that they can move forward and connect to the power to change the narrative of their own lives.

So much of our work at Safe Horizon is to help clients through pain and trauma, but we also get to see the unparalleled strength of survivors in spite of what they have endured. And MaeOla Bolton is no exception.

“I shared my story with Safe Horizon for multiple reasons. The first is that I do not want my life experiences to be in vain. It’s now a part of my life’s work to advocate for and support survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault as they heal from the inside out. Moreover, I know Safe Horizon is committed to helping survivors of all kinds and to providing a safe place for survivors and their families to get help. I hope that by sharing my story it will encourage others who are ashamed and embarrassed, like I was, to come forward with their stories and seek the support they deserve.” #SpeakUpSpeakOut #Healforward

To learn more about MaeOla and her BodyByBolton and SpeakUpSpeakOut initiatives, follow her on Twitter: @MaeOlaB11 or visit www.bodybybolton.com

To learn more about Safe Horizon’s services and programs for child abuse victims, or to learn the signs, or how to report suspected abuse, please click here.