Jenny Mollen reveals she was assaulted during massage appointment at spa - Daily Mail

[massage]

Jenny Mollen reveals she was assaulted during massage appointment at spa: 'It was a slow and subtle assault'​

• Jenny Mollen has revealed she was assaulted while receiving a massage at a spa in New York City back in 2020
• Mollen, 43, came forward with her story in an essay published to Substack , claiming she suffered a 'slow and subtle assault' at the hands of a massage therapist
• If you have been affected by this story, in the US contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800-656-4673 or visit www.rainn.org
• In the UK contact, Rape Crisis on 0808 802 9999 on contact the service using their online chat function

By Christine Rendon For Dailymail.com

Published: 23:02 BST, 1 May 2023 | Updated: 23:06 BST, 1 May 2023


Jenny Mollen has revealed she was assaulted while receiving a massage at a spa in New York City back in 2020.

Mollen, 43, came forward with her story in an essay published to Substack, claiming she suffered a 'slow and subtle assault' at the hands of a massage therapist.

The actress, who has been married to Jason Biggs since 2008, left the appointment feeling 'sick' but ultimately decide not to press charges against him.

DailyMail.com has contacted Mollen's representative for comment.

The essay, titled 'Tell Me A Time You Were Molested', begins by describing how Mollen was offered a free massage in exchange for positive social media exposure. She went to the spa with her mother on February 25, 2020.

Mollen said the therapist asked her to undress to her comfort level before assuring her she was 'completely in control' during the session.

The actress undressed down to her underwear and several minutes later the session began.

'Despite his initial comments about respecting my space and modesty, the therapist didn’t try to avoid my glutes nor did he seem self-conscious about getting too close to my breasts. He prodded me with fingers that felt as wide as Olive Garden breadsticks and contorted me into various positions, folding me in half like I was some kind of Magician’s assistant. I wasn’t uncomfortable with his forwardness. If anything, I was relieved that he wasn’t holding back and optimistic that he would have the strength to dig this one particularly burdensome knot out of my right trap.'

Eventually, an hour into the session, things took a turn for the worse when he allegedly asked if he could move his hands over her breasts.

'"Can I touch here?" he half-whispered, sitting me back up and moving his hands over my breasts,' she recalled. Though Mollen acknowledged she may have perceived his request as a 'red flag' if they were on a 'Tinder date', she trusted him as her friend recommended him.

Mollen gave him permission to do so, but then his hand moved lower.

'Moments later, I was lying back down on the table without my sheet to cover me. The therapist continued stroking and rubbing my chest when suddenly his hand moved to my vagina,' she wrote.

'"Can I touch here?" he might have asked, already starting to masturbate me,' she wrote.

'Frozen in shock, I thought I was hallucinating,' she continued.

'I struggled to speak when suddenly his lips were on mine and his tongue was in my mouth. I turned my head away and cupped my hand over my face as he moved down my neck and started licking my nipple,' she alleged.

'What was happening was wrong, but not in a violent obvious way where I would feel justified in calling to my mother. It was a slow and subtle assault that I felt somehow complicit in.

'Assuring me breathily that I didn’t have to do anything to him, he started to remove my underwear.'

Mollen says he 'stopped immediately' after she told him 'no' and that she was married.

'"No…uh. I… can’t I’m married." I declined, politely as if my committed relationship was the only thing standing between us. I wanted to extricate but I also didn’t want to offend for fear of retribution,' she wrote.

'Hearing my discomfort, he immediately stopped and launched into an apology.

'He said something like "Okay", "of course", or "your wish is my command" then turned back into a real massage therapist and asked if he could do one more maneuver to crack my back before we finished,' she added. She allowed him to do the final adjustment.

The massage therapist then asked if they could keep what had just happened between the two of them, and a 'disoriented' Mollen obliged.

Immediately after he left, she started to feel 'sick.' 'I panicked, frantically scrubbing my tongue. "Was I really just molested at forty-years at the f**king spa equivalent of The Wing?"' she recalled.

Once she mustered up the 'courage' to leave the room, she found him waiting for her outside where he promised not to do that again should she return.

'"Hey, sorry again. If you rebook I promise that won’t happen." He shook his head, remorseful. If I’d been writing a Yelp review I would have also noted that he didn’t even offer me water or tea after my assault. Kind of tacky.

'"All good." I heard myself say,' she wrote.

After she left the spa, she was eventually persuaded by her mother to contact the spa owner and tell her what had happened.

During the conversation with the spa owner, she was asked if she had granted him permission to 'touch my boobs.'

Mollen said a 'wave of shame' fell over her: 'He had asked permission. And I’d thought nothing of it. Instantly, I felt the need to defend myself.

'The more I talked about what had happened, the more confusing it became.

'Why didn’t you say, "no" when he made a move? "Why didn't you scream for help? Why didn’t you run away?" I asked myself over and over.

'Yes, I was angry with him but more than him, I was angry with myself for letting it happen.'

Mollen eventually went to the authorities: 'After spending two days in bed on Xanax, I went to the police station to ask more questions. There I learned that if I wanted to lodge a formal complaint, I would need to go downtown to the special victims unit for questioning. The massage therapist would be arrested at his home,' she described.

'They would then bring him in and ask for his account of the events that had transpired. It would be a back and forth of his word against mine. Most cases don’t go to court but if this did, my writing and any other public information about me could and would be used against me.'

Eventually, she decided not to press charges on him but she later learned he was fired and had a complaint filed against his massage license.

'Why didn’t I say no when he made a move? Why didn’t I scream for help? Why didn’t I run away? I don’t know. I just didn’t. Most women don’t,' she ended the essay.


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