Sheryl Lee Ralph reveals she was sexually assaulted in public by a “famous TV judge”

Written by ABC AUDIO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on March 23, 2023

(NOTE LANGUAGE) In a wide-ranging interview with the Wake Up with Angela Yee podcast, Abbott Elementary Emmy winner Sheryl Lee Ralph discussed an accusation she made in her new book, DIVA 2.0: 12 Life Lessons From Me For You, in which a “famous” person sexually assaulted her at a public event.

“There was one incident — it was like the third time something like this happened to me. I thought to myself, ‘What did I do to deserve that?'”

She expressed, “This was a famous TV judge. Not Judge Mathis, I love him. He’s a great man.”

Ralph recalled, “I’m at a very public place. I was suited. I had my suit on. I was handling my business for the television show I was on at that time. He and I were on the same network. This man walked in, grabbed me by the back of my neck, turned me around and rammed his nasty-a** tongue down my throat.”

She added, “And everybody at the network saw it.”

Sheryl explained that the former mayor of New Orleans, Marc Morial, offered to “send the police there right now” and “fix his you-know-what right now.” However, she was dissuaded from doing anything by someone from the network.

“They saw what happened,” Ralph said, before quoting the executives: “‘It wasn’t that bad. We don’t need the bad press.'” Sheryl exclaimed, “That’s the kind of stuff that … makes it hard for women to speak up about these things!”

She advised women, “Speak up. Do not carry the burden of that pain.” She said experiences like that “drive some people crazy,” noting, “They get changed forever.”

Ralph also said she was shocked Harvey Weinstein was “taken down” because many famous abusers aren’t.