Australian actress Rachael Taylor has opened up about her experience of domestic violence to a packed lunch in Sydney, and has offered her hand to fellow victims.
The Transformers star admitted domestic abuse was a "difficult thing to talk about" when she spoke candidly to 250 high-profile women at David Jones's Crown Autumn Racing Ladies Lunch on Friday.
"The one thing (that) is profoundly distressing ... is that loss of self-value and self-esteem ... the female self-worth is of such profound importance," the 29-year-old said.
"Not all survivors of domestic violence get to stand up here and talk to you all about this and I feel very privileged that I do."
Taylor then offered to chat to any of the women in the room who felt they were also victims.
"Please come and talk to me if you would like. I am sitting on table 13. I want to say what is happening to you, it is not your fault."
Taylor has never named the ex who subjected her to domestic violence.
A Sydney court heard in 2011 that she suffered 12 months of physical and verbal abuse at the hands of actor Matthew Newton, following a high-profile incident in a Rome hotel.
In February Taylor broke her silence about her ordeal, writing a first-person account in the The Australian Women's Weekly magazine.
She said: "I remember looking at a domestic violence poster in a hospital emergency room and on it was a picture of a woman, bloodied and bruised.
"I didn't relate to her, even though I was her. I thought I was the exception to the rule, but I was the rule."
Friday's event was hosted by three generations of Packer women - Roslyn, Gretel and Francesca - and included a catwalk of David Jones' latest racing fashion modelled by Jessica Gomes, Montana Cox and identical twin models Zac and Jordan Stenmark.
