Mena Suvari Says An Abusive Ex ‘Manipulated’ Her Into Threesomes She ‘Never Wanted’

Mena Suvari opened up about sexual abuse in a new interview, revealing she ran into one of the women involved in a threesome with an ex and confessed she ‘never wanted’ to do that.

Mena Suvari revealed she was “manipulated” by an ex to engage in threesomes. The actress, now 43, initially wrote about the emotional experience in her memoir The Great Peace in 2021, but opened up about the topic again in a new interview. Mena explained that she ran into one of the women involved in a threesome with her and her ex many years later, and detailed how the interaction was an “eye opener” for her.

“I said [to the woman], ‘I want you to know that I never wanted to do any of those things,’” the American Beauty icon said to The Guardian in an interview published on July 27. “She was surprised. She said, ‘Oh, he told me you wanted to do that.’ It was a huge eye-opener for me, how I was being manipulated and I had no idea. The circumstances had been created for me, and I was just swallowed up by it,” she also said.

The actress was clear, however, that she is not judgmental towards those who engage in threesomes of their choice. “I’ve never wanted to speak negatively about things that can be very healthy for other people. I was not given the choice or the permission to do it, and that’s what was so destructive for me,” she clarified. “It’s a very messed up thing when you experience sexual abuse, because part of it is … like, satisfying. But then the other part is an absolute nightmare, so you’re confused, you don’t know what’s right,” she went on.

Mena is now married to her husband Michael Hope, and the pair share a 15-month-old son Christopher. Mena did not name the ex who allegedly abused her. The American Pie actress had a series of public relationships prior to her 2018 marriage: she was previously wed to cinematographer Robert Brinkmann in 2000, who she worked with on Sugar & Spice. The relationship fizzled by 2005, and she then linked up with Simone Sestito, who is a concert promotor, marrying in 2010 — but separated just a year later.

In her book, when speaking of the same unnamed ex, she explained she was “not being loved,” adding that she was “just a body, a receptacle for his desires.”

In the new interview, she said that speaking out has been “bittersweet” for her. “It was bittersweet because it felt beautiful to feel seen and heard, but it was heartbreaking to hear that others had identified in similar ways. I didn’t want that for them, but overall I feel very proud,” she said of her 2021 book. “I always hoped that [the book] could help create some kind of change and initiate further conversation.”

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for confidential support. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for free, confidential support.