Lisa Wilkinson shares horrific details of the sexual assault she suffered at age 15

Lisa Wilkinson is speaking up about the sexual assault she suffered at the age of 15. 

In a special interview conducted by Hamish Macdonald on The Sunday Project, the 61-year-old detailed the trauma she endured at the hands of a man who was the father of a school friend – and a friend of her own father, Raymond, too. 

‘It was someone who was a father of a very close school friend of mine. But he was also someone that my dad knew really well,’ Lisa said.

‘And the second and final time that it happened, my dad came to pick me up from the sleepover I was meant to have that night.

‘I got to the door and my friend’s father arrived at the door just after me. And with the same hand that had just been on my body, he reached out and shook the hand of my father. And said, “Ray, it’s great to see you.”‘ 

Tearfully, she continued: ‘To me, safety was always in the arms of my father. He was the most incredible man and seeing him for the moment made a lot of it better. 

‘It was someone who was a father of a very close school friend of mine. But he was also someone that my dad knew really well,’ Lisa said

Lisa detailed: ‘My friend’s father arrived at the door just after me. And with the same hand that had just been on my body, he reached out and shook the hand of my father. And said, “Ray, it’s great to see you”‘. Lisa is pictured with her father Raymond

‘And I just chose to never speak about it, to never do anything about it, and I’ve only very recently told my girlfriend what happened.’

Lisa said that finally discussing the assault ‘lifted a weight’ off her shoulders.   

‘I feel in telling the story of what happened to me at 15, I’m linking arms with so many women around the country who until this year, hadn’t told their stories either,’ she said. 

Difficult: Lisa was a 15-year-old school girl when she experienced the assault. She is pictured with her friends as a teenager 

‘I just chose to never speak about it, to never do anything about it, and I’ve only very recently told my girlfriend what happened,’ Lisa said. Pictured as a teenager 

Wilkinson says she was inspired by the bravery of Brittany Higgins, a former Liberal staffer who alleges she was raped in Parliament House in March 2019. 

‘I wasn’t actually going to write about that and I only made that decision earlier this year after witnessing the incredible courage of Brittany [Higgins],’ Lisa told Stellar Magazine on Saturday. 

‘I thought, if [women] don’t come forward and don’t show how incredibly common these experiences are, then the perpetrators win. And I couldn’t be a party to that,’ she added. 

Weight: Lisa said that finally discussing the assault ‘lifted a weight’ off her shoulders. ‘I feel in telling the story of what happened to me at 15, I’m linking arms with so many women around the country who until this year, hadn’t told their stories either,’ she said

Inspired: Wilkinson says she was inspired by the bravery of Brittany Higgins (pictured), a former Liberal staffer who alleges she was raped in Parliament House in March 2019 

Lisa will document her assault in her new memoir, It Wasn’t Meant To Be Like This.   

Ms Higgins shocked the nation earlier this year when she alleged she was raped by a colleague in former defence minister Linda Reynolds’ office after a boozy night out in March 2019. She made a complaint to police in February. 

Bruce Lehrmann, currently in Queensland, is charged with sexual intercourse without consent at Parliament House in March 2019.

The 26-year-old faces one charge of sexual intercourse without consent which has a maximum sentence of 12 years in jail. 

‘I wasn’t actually going to write about that and I only made that decision earlier this year after witnessing the incredible courage of Brittany [Higgins],’ Lisa told Stellar Magazine

Shock: Ms Higgins shocked the nation earlier this year when she alleged she was raped by a colleague in former defence minister Linda Reynolds’ office after a boozy night out in March 2019. Pictured meeting with the Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese in Sydney in April

Acting for Lehrmann, barrister John Korn told the ACT Magistrates Court in September he was instructed to enter a plea of not guilty. 

Lisa has been outspoken on the case and in March, she appeared at the Australian March4Justice protest, where she read a speech written by Higgins. 

‘The first phone call I made after I was asked was to Brittany Higgins,’ she said on The Project at the time. 

‘I felt it was really important that Brittany’s words be heard tomorrow.

Talking: Lisa has been outspoken on the case and in March, she appeared at the Australian March4Justice protest, where she read a speech written by Higgins. Pictured together 

‘The first phone call I made after I was asked was to Brittany Higgins,’ she said on The Project at the time. ‘I felt it was really important that Brittany’s words be heard’. Brittany Higgins is pictured at the Canberra March 4 Justice on March 15

‘Brittany said yes and she has written the most powerful words for me to deliver in Canberra tomorrow. So I feel extremely honoured to be able to be her voice.’ 

Lisa told Hamish on Sunday night:  ‘She has inspired survivors of sexual abuse everywhere. To tell their story and to believe that they will be listened to and heard and that their story matters.

‘I had to include something that happened to me when I was 15 as well. And her bravery just meant that if I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t be telling my complete story.’ 

For confidential support contact 1800RESPECT

Family: Lisa and her husband Peter FitzSimons, 60, (right) are parents to three adult children, daughter Billie, 23, and sons Jake, 27, and Louis, 25