Categories: Celebs

‘Real Housewives Of Dubai’ Star Chanel Ayan Opens Up About Surviving Female Circumcision At Age 5

<p>&&num;8216&semi;Real Housewives of Dubai&&num;8217&semi; star Chanel Ayan recently opened up about a traumatic experience she endured at the tender age of five&period; The Somali and Ethiopian reality television star revealed that she underwent female circumcision&&num;8211&semi;a cultural tactic used to sustain women&&num;8217&semi;s virginity until marriage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ayan spoke to E&excl; news after discussing the procedure on the most recent episode of &&num;8216&semi;RHOB&comma;&&num;8217&semi; stating that she felt betrayed by her culture&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>I&&num;8217&semi;m a survivor&period; I felt that I was utterly betrayed by my culture and my family&period; This is just a barbaric practice&comma; and it shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be happening to young girls&period; It happened to me 35 years ago&comma; and I&&num;8217&semi;ve never gotten over it&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>The fashion designer explained that that her mother and grandmother took her to a stranger&&num;8217&semi;s house to have her genitals sewn up&comma; which has caused her to suffer from both physical and emotional trauma&period; In the scene&comma; Chanel tearfully described the procedure&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>We were tied in the legs&period; Couldn&&num;8217&semi;t pee&period; Couldn&&num;8217&semi;t move&period; When we needed to pee&comma; they would carry us and put us on the grass&period; I just didn&&num;8217&semi;t understand what the hell was going on whatsoever and my mom didn&&num;8217&semi;t know that that was happening to us&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><iframe title&equals;"YouTube video player" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;embed&sol;yhmC9oGXuio" width&equals;"560" height&equals;"315" frameborder&equals;"0" allowfullscreen&equals;"allowfullscreen"><&sol;iframe><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p> I think the trauma is something that I will live with for the rest of my life&period; This is why I want to talk about it because I honestly don&&num;8217&semi;t want this to happen to anyone&comma; because I know exactly how it feels and it&&num;8217&semi;s not good&period; A lot of girls get depressed&comma; hormones are imbalanced&comma; a lot of young girls die&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Female mutilation still occurs around the globe&comma; and Ayan hopes to use her platform to bring awareness to the issue&period; She also plans to use profits from her new makeup line&comma; Ayan Beauty&comma; to help the cause&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;instagram&period;com&sol;p&sol;CfrgdXPhzJ2&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;source&equals;ig&lowbar;embed&&num;038&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;loading" data-instgrm-version&equals;"14" style&equals;" background&colon;&num;FFF&semi; max-width&colon;658px&semi; min-width&colon;326px&semi; padding&colon;0&semi; width&colon;99&period;375&percnt;&semi; width&colon;-webkit-calc&lpar;100&percnt; - 2px&rpar;&semi; width&colon;calc&lpar;100&percnt; - 2px&rpar;&semi;"><div>&NewLine; <iframe class&equals;"custom-ig-embed" data-src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;instagram&period;com&sol;p&sol;CfrgdXPhzJ2&sol;embed&sol;captioned" allowtransparency&equals;"true" allowfullscreen&equals;"true" frameborder&equals;"0" height&equals;"640px" scrolling&equals;"no" style&equals;"background&colon;&num;FFF&semi; border&colon;0&semi; border-radius&colon;3px&semi; box-shadow&colon;0 0 1px 0 rgba&lpar;0&comma;0&comma;0&comma;0&period;5&rpar;&comma;0 1px 10px 0 rgba&lpar;0&comma;0&comma;0&comma;0&period;15&rpar;&semi; margin&colon; 1px&semi; max-width&colon;540px&semi; min-width&colon;326px&semi; padding&colon;0&semi; width&colon;99&period;375&percnt;&semi; width&colon;-webkit-calc&lpar;100&percnt; - 2px&rpar;&semi; width&colon;calc&lpar;100&percnt; - 2px&rpar;&semi;"><&sol;iframe>&NewLine; <&sol;div><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>I just feel like after opening up about it&comma; I was taking my power away from the people that did this to me that I trusted the most because I was 5 years old and I did not know what was happening to me&period;  I didn&&num;8217&semi;t even know what was going on&period; As long as I use my platform to bring awareness to stop this&&num;8211&semi;if I can save 20 girls&comma; 100 girls&comma; 500 girls&comma; I feel like that&&num;8217&semi;s the purpose I have&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"96475" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;real-housewives-of-dubai-star-chanel-ayan-opens-up-about-surviving-female-circumcision-at-age-5&sol;" data-secure&equals;"2a1d850594"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;font-size&colon; 25px&semi;font-weight&colon; 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