A teenager who endured two years of sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather has shared the horrific truth behind a seemingly blissful photograph.
The picture was taken of Annie Jones when she was just 13, laughing and playing at a Queensland beach with her friends.
Hidden behind her smile was a dark secret – she was being sexually abused by her stepdad.
Her way of dealing with the abuse was to ‘fake it’.
Annie Jones, a teenager who endured two years of sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather, has shared the devastating truth behind a photograph of herself aged 13. ‘Smiling, laughing and playing in the sand with my friends, but on the inside so confused, scared and holding in the biggest secret,’ she wrote
‘It’s insane, it would happen in the night and then I would just get up and go to school like nothing was wrong’, she told 7news.
‘I wore a fake smile every single day.’
Annie, now 19, said she had loved her stepfather and she thought he loved her too, but as she got older she began to feel uncomfortable around him.
When her stepdad first abused her, it was ‘smaller stuff’ but it eventually escalated to full-on rape, she said.
She was going to ‘keep copping it’ because she didn’t want to be seen as a victim and she didn’t want her family to fall apart.
But the truth finally came out when she was caught with a hickey on her neck after she snuck out to a festival with a friend.
Both parents were berating her when her stepfather suddenly called her a s***.
Upset, she fired back, saying it was nothing more than he had ever done to her.
The teenager was in disbelief that she had finally revealed her secret and then spent three years battling in New South Wales’ courts before her abuser was finally jailed for 17 years.
Annie said she didn’t initially realise what was happening to her was ‘bad’ because her stepfather was a respected and trusted man.
Annie Jones, now aged 19, will officially launch non-profit organisation ‘no more fake smiles’ on September 5 – four years after she found the strength to tell her story of abuse
‘I didn’t know it was abuse, I was never taught that,’ Annie said.
After years of hiding her pain and keeping the secret, the ordeal finally took its toll, Annie attempted suicide earlier this year.
‘I was put in a mental health unit – that was kind of the final straw. I wanted to die, I was ready for it,’ she said.
While she was in the mental health unit she got the idea to launch charity ‘no more fake smiles’, a charity to support abused children and put an end to silent suffering.
Speaking in a video to promote the launch of her organisation, Annie explained she ‘wore a fake smile’ while suffering the torment.
‘I wore it every single day… I wore that fake smile so well that no one ever suspected anything that was going on,’ she said.
Annie pictured with her mum Tracey Morris, who has supported her daughter launch the charity
Annie said she was sharing her shocking past in the hope it could help young children in similar situations
‘I want to make suffering in silence no longer an option. No more fake smiles is a not-for-profit charity established by myself and my gorgeous mum four years after I found my voice and spoke out about the sexual abuse I had endured.’
‘I am trying to create awareness because for me I wasn’t aware at all and felt so alone, being so young.’
The charity will initially be launched as a website, where victims can find support and access to resources during their time of need.
There is a Go Fund Me page to raise funds for the launch of the NMFS Mental Health Program, which aims to provide financial support to survivors of child abuse and their families to pursue therapy.
For confidential support call Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14.