Sarah Hyland Speaks Out About Enduring Her Abusive Relationship & Thanks Julie Bowen for Support While Accepting Courage Award

Sarah Hyland is bravely speaking out, and thanking Julie Bowen.

During an acceptance speech for the first-ever Courage Award from Variety, the 33-year-old Modern Family star spoke about being a survivor of domestic violence.

“For thousands of years now, we didn’t talk about it,” she said of enduring domestic violence.

“The community hasn’t shared enough, I believe. And I feel that if we talk about it more, more women — and men and just human beings in general in abusive relationships — will feel more comfortable to be able to talk about it with their loved ones instead of letting their abuser isolate them from everyone, which is the first thing that they do, so that you don’t have that community,” she went on.

Sarah said that “talking about it” is “really important” to helping those in need, and discussed how PTSD often affects survivors long after the abusive relationship.

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“[It stays] in that abused place of your soul, where you think it’s your fault the whole time and you could have done better, you could have gotten out sooner, you could have told people,” she said, adding that eventually “you don’t wanna talk about it anymore. You want it to be done, and that’s that.”

“I completely understand the dissociation pattern of it,” she explained.

“I am very much guilty about it myself… until something happens where I’m triggered, and I didn’t realize that part of myself had been healed.”

“I don’t know if that part [of] any woman will ever be fully healed from that. It’s something that kind of scars her soul a little bit. It’s more so putting love towards that scar instead of hating it and ignoring it,” Sarah said.

“I want to support others in the way that Julie and all of my close ones have done for me,” Sarah said.

In 2014, Sarah secured a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend Matt Prokop, claiming he verbally and physically abused her during their five-year relationship. Her Modern Family costar Julie had intervened one month before and helped her end her relationship, which allegedly led to Matt threatening to kill her dog and burn down her house.

“Without adversity, there can be no way to define one’s character and sense of self,” Julie Bowen told the outlet.

“Sarah’s path has forced her, from a very early age, to take on challenges — both physical and emotional. She has met each moment with determination, grace, and vulnerability. I’m so proud that Variety is recognizing her strength and heart with the Courage Award.”

Watch the speech…