Author Alice Munro, 2009. Her daughter, Andrea Skinner, came forward to accuse her stepfather of abusing her as a child, something Munro knew about and stayed with him until his death.
Peter Muley/AFP via Getty Images
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Peter Muley/AFP via Getty Images
The daughter of acclaimed Canadian author Alice Munro has revealed she was sexually abused by her stepfather while her Nobel Prize-winning mother turned a blind eye.
Andrea Skinner wrote in a column published in the Toronto Star on Sunday that Munro’s then-husband, Gerald Fremlin, died in 1976 The abuse began when she was only 9 years old.
She wrote that while she was visiting her mother at her home in Clinton, Ont., that summer while Munro was away, Fremling “climbed into the bed where I was sleeping and sexually assaulted me.”
Munro died earlier this summer at the age of 92. The author is best known for her short stories, often placing her characters in rural Ontario, where Munro grew up. In 2013, the Swedish Academy awarded her the Nobel Prize, calling her a “master of contemporary short stories.”
Since Skinner’s column was published, the literary community has expressed shock and sadness, with writers publicly grappling with Munro’s formative work and the fallout from her daughter’s accusations.
Rebecca Makai a Pulitzer Prize finalist great believerposted on Changes have occurred under leadership.
Skinner said she is coming forward now because she wants her story “to be part of the story people tell about my mother. I never want to see any interviews, biographies or events ever again that grapple with the reality of what happened to me.” , and didn’t want to see my mother choose to stay and protect her abuser when faced with the truth of what happened.
The Swedish Academy awarded Munro the Nobel Prize in 2013, calling her a “master of contemporary short stories.”
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Skinner said the abuse continued for years, with Fremling regularly exposing himself to Skinner, telling the young girl about her mother’s sexual needs and “little girls from the neighborhood” he told her he liked.
Skinner confided in her stepmother, who in turn told Skinner’s father, James Munro. Skinner wrote that James Munro did not confront his ex-wife about the abuse and the attacks continued without adult intervention.
The abuse, along with the heavy secrecy and silence she was forced to keep, took its toll on Skinner, who developed debilitating migraines and bulimia as an adult. At 25, she finally came forward about the abuse when she wrote a letter to Munro.
Munro told her she felt betrayed and compared the abuse to an affair, a reaction that shocked Skinner, she wrote.
In response, Fremling wrote to Munro and her family, threatening to kill Skinner if she called the police. He accused Skinner of abusive behavior and described her as a “homewrecker”. He also threatened to expose photos he took of Skinner as a child.
Skinner wrote that Munro returned to Fremling and stayed with him until his death in 2013. Munro allegedly said, “She was ‘told too late’ that she loved him too much, and if I expected her to deny her own needs, make sacrifices for her children, and make up for her family’s shortcomings, our culture of misogyny would She was to blame. She insisted that everything that happened was between me and my stepfather and had nothing to do with her,” Skinner wrote in her post.
Skinner said she never reconciled with her mother but has since rebuilt her relationship with her siblings.
Munro Books, the company Alice and James Munro founded when they were married, issued a statement supporting Skinner. The company has been independently owned since 2014 and did not speak on behalf of the family.
The company said: “Learning the details of Andrea’s experience is heartbreaking for everyone at Munro Books. Like so many readers and writers, we will need time to absorb this news and the impact it may have on us.” The impact of Alice’s legacy We’ve praised Munro’s work and connection to the store before, and it’s important to respect Andrea’s choice of how to share her story more widely.
The statement continued: “This story is for Andrea to tell and we will have no further comment at this time.”
