In this video, Danielle shares her self-care recommendations should a survivor choose to speak with the media about their case.
"So, whether or not your case goes to court, you still may have to deal with the media. So I would like to share my experience, and some tips about media involvement.
So, again, when I read my impact statement in court to Larry Nassar, I read it the morning of the first day, so I was not prepared for all of the media attention. And if you know this case, the victim impact statements went on for almost two weeks, so 150 women spoke. But that first morning of that first day, I was not ready for that type of attention. After my impact statement, my quotes, or parts of what I said, appeared in different articles, and I think I counted over 40 articles in that first week that they had quotes from.
One way to avoid this is you can stay anonymous. You could still read your statement, but you can be anonymous to the media. So, if individuals wanted to do that, the judge would tell the media to stop taking pictures, stop recording, and they listened. So, you don’t have to, you know, be in that limelight. So then after I read my statement, I was really riled up and emotional after court. I, you know, there was a lot of different things going on in my head, and I would suggest that you really think before you speak to the media, because those emotions are kind of all over the place, you might say something that you don’t necessarily want to say, and then once you say it to the media, it’s out in the world, or at least once it’s published, it’s out in the world, and you can’t take that back. So, be careful of, or think beforehand about, what you may or may not want to say to the media, and also kind of calm down before you make any types of statements.
Also, one very large suggestion is to not read the comments of any article published. The negative comments will stick out in your mind way more than all of the other positive comments. So even if you’re tempted, just don’t read the comments. I would suggest maybe having family or a friend with you when you read the media articles, so they can stop you from reading the comments, because there is that pull. So, those are some of the tips and advice that I learned going through my case."
