Warning: this article contains details of a sexual assault case which some readers may find triggering.

Tiffany Haddish is a very talented actor and comedian. Indeed, as anyone who’s seen one of her popular comedy films – think Girls Trip, Like A Boss, and Uncle Drew – will no doubt attest, she 100% knows how to make her audience laugh.

However, in a raw new interview, Haddish has set aside her comedic armour and bared her vulnerable side in order to address her past interactions with police. And, more importantly, how these interactions continue to affect her to this very day.

Speaking on the podcast, Hustling With Vivica A. Fox, Haddish recalled being raped by a police cadet when she was 17-years-old.

Determining not to share details of her assault, nor publicly identifying her attacker by name, Haddish went on to explain that, after the “traumatising” incident, she became fixated on the idea of getting “revenge”.

This, in turn, “messed up” her ideas of sex and relationships. And, she says, her desire for “justice” drove her to date a number of men in law enforcement, too.

“I dated a police officer, a judge, a lawyer,” she said. “I dated several different kinds of dudes, thinking, ‘Oh, if I date them, they’ll love me and they’ll try to help me with my crusade of getting justice for my family and myself.’

“But they were like, ‘nah.’”

Underlining the fact that “nobody really helped” her to get the justice she wanted, Haddish said she was left feeling as if she had “lost this little bit of my soul.”

“I don’t know why I thought these police would do something to this other police officer because he took advantage of me,” she said. “Like, I wasn’t even taken advantage of. That motherfucker just took me.”

Haddish added: “I had to learn revenge is not really where it’s at. Really the true revenge is in your success.”

Haddish, in a separate interview, stressed that she did report her attacker to the correct authorities. But doing so, she says, left her in “a messed-up place.”

“That whole experience put me in such a messed-up place for a long time and I ended up going to counselling,” she said, noting that she still struggles with the concept of justice.

“Me just yelling out people’s names with no thought behind it is pointless. I need a plan,” she continued. 

“I could be a voice, but what’s a voice going to do — just keep talking? Or is there action behind it?”

During her conversation with Vivica A. Fox, Haddish also reflected upon another encounter with police, in which she claimed cops pulled their guns on her when they found her smoking marijuana in her car.

The actor, who was living in the vehicle at the time, recalled: “I didn’t make no fuss about it or anything. I just was letting them know I was scared, that I’m not doing anything wrong.

“The more that I talked to them, I was trying to crack jokes to try and lighten the mood even though I was super afraid for my life.”

Haddish was given a ticket for possession, but it was later downgraded to a ticket for disturbing the peace. She still, to this day, feels frustrated over the incident, as she feels she did not do anything wrong.

If you, or anyone you know, needs help and support, you can call the Rape Crisis national helpline on 0808 802 9999 (open 12pm - 2.30pm and 7pm - 9.30pm daily). You can also find your nearest centre here or visit the website for more information here.

To listen to Tiffany Haddish’s interview with Vivica A. Fox in full, listen to Hustling With Vivica A. Fox now.

Images: Getty