Caroline Walner
Appearances
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
Absolutely. It's been like the scariest roller coaster ride with this because, you know, when you feel like, you know, people are starting to understand and then all of a sudden you get like even more scared than you were before because they're constantly trying to put a muzzle on you. That's what this is all about. Like not talking.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
And that's when I just thought, well, I guess I could go to the best, Gloria Allred, and looked her up on the internet, and I emailed her. And probably three hours later or something, they called me.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
I was probably like one of the lowest periods I've ever been in my life. I was not in a good place at all. And I did tell them that, you know.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
And, you know, I don't think after that conversation I really ever got to go into the sex abuse and what had happened. Like, I don't think he ever knew any of the details. Maybe I had told him a couple of them. I can't really remember. I was asked, like, not a lot of questions about that.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
I mean, he said you should read the NDA, but the NDA was so long and it was not language that I was used to at all. I did not know what a lot of it even meant. And we didn't go over the NDA together at all.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
I didn't have a place to live. And it's kind of like when you're in a situation like that, it's like, wait a minute, what is right in front of you? Right in front of you is you need like a roof over your girl's head, you know, and like groceries and a refrigerator. And that's how I was thinking.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
I wasn't thinking about the fact that the NDA was going to like hold me hostage for the rest of my life.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
Oh, completely sick. I mean, what happened to us was different, very different, but so much of it was the same.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
The only way to take care of yourself when you've experienced a trauma is to talk about it and to come to terms with it and try to understand that it was not your fault. And so to not be able to talk about that and to have to keep that silent is really, really bad for your mental health. And I think that's one of the things that keeps people traumatized. It's re-traumatizing. It absolutely is.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
And he said, listen, don't be stupid. If you break your NDA, you are breaking the law. You sign that NDA and you have to follow it by law. Don't be a fool. You're one of the lucky ones. And, you know, if you do break this NDA, I will no longer represent you. And that's what he said. And he hung up. And I hung up.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
Oh, I was... I mean, I was totally crying. I was crying so hard because it was really... It was aggressive. It was an aggressive phone call.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
I can remember talking to somebody about her going, wow, thank God there's a woman out there who's taking care of women.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
But he was using this to scare me and make my lawyer think that he had all this sexually provocative stuff that would prove that he didn't have a case.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
It was just so duplicitous and shocking. And I don't know, it just felt really kind of like, I don't know what the word is for something like that, like Machiavellian or something.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
And I thought she was really amazing. You know, I still actually feel like she's done a lot of good bringing things to the forefront when maybe they wouldn't have been before. You know, I mean, sometimes there are two truths to things. This might be one of those times in my situation.
The Journal.
The High Pressure Tactics Gloria Allred Uses On Her Own Clients
There's a problem with signing an NDA, and that is with somebody who is a serial predator, and that is that you protect them because you have to be silent about that so you don't go on the record. And I don't know what to do about that. You know, that's like a societal issue that I think has to be talked about.