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Chiquis Rivera__ hasn't had the easiest life. The singer and reality star has opened up plenty times before about the sexual abuse she endured by her own father when she was only 8-years-old. In a recent and exclusive interview with Univision, Chiquis shares the very first time her father raped her, along with the hard decision she made to forgive him.
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Chiquis' biological father, Jose Trinidad Marin, has been living behind bars for years after having been sentenced to more than 31 years in prison without parole for sexual assault and rape. The story is nothing less than devastating.
Chiquis has opened up about this before. In a clip from NBC's Universo's The Riveras, Chiquis shared how her father never admitted to the assaults. "He never admitted to it," she said. "He always said that my mom put this in my head and that she was a monster. But my mom never put this in my head, this is something that I remember."
In the past, she has spared us the gritty details but in her recent interview with Univision, Chiquis recounts the first time her father ever sexually assaulted her and admits that she was actually raped that day.
She was only 8-years-old when she and her sister Jackie were staying with her dad for the summer. They made a family trip to the beach but when they got back to the house, her father told her to shower because she was covered in sand.
Chiquis recalls her father coming into the bathroom while she was naked and about to shower. He sat her on his lap and that's when the rape happened. The details themselves are hard to hear, let alone to stomach. The rape and assaults only continued from there. But what's astounding to me is how Chiquis has managed to find the strength to forgive her father. That seriously blows my mind.
"He's my dad at the end of the day. I think that something happened to him. I'm not justifying what he did. What he did wasn't right. It's not right. But I feel like he needed therapy or needs therapy. It makes me sad that he's in jail."
What's crazier is that Chiquis' dad has never asked her for forgiveness. He's never even acknowledged or admitted to what he did to her. She had to find the strength within herself to forgive him for herself. As far as him ever changing, she's just leaving it all in god's hands.
I can't even imagine how hard it must have been for Chiquis to grow up with that kind trauma. Being sexually assaulted and raped is devastating and horrible. Imagine being raped at 8-years-old by your own father? The fact that she is here today stronger than ever and actually able to forgive him proves that the human heart is a lot stronger and resilient than we give it credit for.
