Content warning: This article contains references to rape and sexual assault.
The new Alanis Morissette documentary, Jagged, is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this week. Ahead of its release, The Washington Post reports the film contains multiple allegations of statutory rape.
During an interview in her Californian home, the Post quotes Morissette as saying, “I’m going to need some help because I never talk about this.” She goes on to explain how therapy brought her to the realisation she’d been a victim of multiple statutory rapes in her teen years.
“I would always say I was consenting and then I’d be reminded, like, ‘Hey, you were 15, you’re not consenting at 15.’ Now I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re all paedophiles. It’s all statutory rape.’”
The Post points out that Morissette doesn’t name any of the alleged abusers. However, she says she voiced concern at the time, but was summarily ignored by music industry professionals. “I did tell a few people and it kind of fell on deaf ears,” she says. “It would usually be a stand-up, walk-out-of-the-room moment.”
Morissette entered the music industry as a teenager and released her first couple of albums – Alanis and Now is the Time – before turning 18. Her breakthrough came with the release of Jagged Little Pill in 1995, by which time she was 21 years old. Her latest album, Such Pretty Forks in the Road, came out in July 2020.
The new film, Jagged, was produced by HBO and directed by Alison Klayman, best known for the 2012 documentary, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry.
If you need assistance, 1800 RESPECT – the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service — can be reached on 1800 737 732.
