Catherine Britt | Credit: Lisa Maree Williams/ TCMF/ Getty Images

Aussie Country Music Star Catherine Britt Says She Was Abused By “Icons” In The Music Industry

November 17, 2022

Content warning: This article discusses alleged sexual abuse

Australian country music performer Catherine Britt has shared her own #MeToo story, outlining shocking instances of sexual abuse she allegedly suffered as a young woman trying to break into the music industry.

Catherine Britt – ‘I Am A Country Song’

In a series of videos posted to her social media accounts, the five-time Golden Guitar winner claimed she was inappropriately touched and sexually assaulted when she was underage.

Though Britt hasn’t named any names of her abusers, she alleges that the perpetrators of the crimes were big names in the Australian music industry – “people that you all look at as heroes and musical icons.”

“These people touched me inappropriately when I was young, took advantage of me when I was young, had sex with me when I was underage, tried to have sex with me when I was underage,” she alleged in one video. “A young girl in the music industry should not be touched inappropriately by older men.”

The allegations date back to 1996, when the singer was just 12 years old. Britt told her followers that she’d long been hesitant to speak her truth because of victim-blaming and other damage that she’s already suffered to her reputation.

“I just want to fight back,” she said. “I could write an autobiography. I could ruin people’s lives [and] careers. But you know, I’ve always taken the high road – I’ve always tried to be the bigger person when people have put me down and talked shit about me online, and done all this stupid shit to make me feel littler than I am. And I’m getting to a point where I feel like I need to speak up… There’s so many things I want to address.”

Britt also confessed that she’s spent “many years” in therapy trying to heal from the trauma of her experiences.

Speaking directly to her alleged abusers, she said, “You know who you are. You know what you’ve done to me. You know your history. You know your past. You know the bullshit you’ve spun. You know the lies that you have webbed into your own little freaking fairytales that you want to make the world believe.

“But I sleep at night knowing exactly my place in this world, exactly what I’ve done. Yeah, I’m not perfect. Yeah, I’ve fucked up. Absolutely. Because you know what? I’m a human being who set out in the music industry when I was 12.

“You should have known better. You should have shown me the way. You should have taught me what was right and wrong. You should not have taken advantage of me and then blamed me for it, and then caused many, many lies and rumours throughout the years, to benefit your career. You know who you are.”

Britt concluded with a message to “all the women out there that have ever felt like I feel”, telling them, “I have your back. 100 per cent. Reach out to me. I will look after you. I will take care of you. They won’t”.

You can view some of her videos below.