Evelyn Yang, Andrew Yang’s wife, says she was sexually assaulted

The MeToo movement has drawn the stories of thousands of people. Now, Evelyn Yang — wife of Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang — is hoping to use her own story of sexual assault to make a difference through a political platform. In an interview with CNN, Yang revealed Thursday that when she was seven months pregnant with her first child in 2012, she was sexually assaulted by her OBGYN, Robert Hadden, during a routine exam.

“I was in the exam room, and I was dressed and ready to go. Then, at the last minute, he kind of made up an excuse. He said something about, ‘I think you might need a C-section,’ and he proceeded to grab me over to him and undress me and examine me internally, ungloved,” she told CNN. “I knew it was wrong. I knew I was being assaulted.”

She also told CNN that prior to the incident, Hadden would ask her inappropriate and unsolicited questions about her sex life with her husband.

Like many victims of sexual assault, Yang blamed herself for what happened for a long time. Nearly 70% of people who experience sexual assault never report it, and for years, she was one of them. 

Evelyn Yang seen in a screengrab from an interview with CNN.

“I thought there was something I did to invite this kind of behavior,” she told CNN. “I feel like I put up with some inappropriate behavior that I didn’t know at the time was straight-up sexual abuse/sexual assault until much later, and I regret having put up with that.”

It wasn’t until months after her son Christopher was born that she began to realize the assault was not her fault. She received a letter that Hadden had left his practice, and when she looked him up online, she found that he had assaulted another woman who had reported the incident to the police. 

She decided to tell her husband about what occurred, and together they found an attorney. It turns out that 17 other female patients have accused Hadden of assault. Eventually, a grand jury indicted Hadden on multiple felony sex charges, but in 2016, the Manhattan district attorney’s office agreed to a plea deal. Out of the nine charges against him, he pleaded guilty to just two — one count of forcible touching and another count of third-degree sexual abuse — and he did not have to go to jail. Instead, he would lose his medical license and be registered as the lowest-level sex offender.

Within minutes of CNN publishing its interview with Mrs. Yang on Thursday, Andrew Yang tweeted a simple, heartfelt message: “I love my wife very very much.”

In a statement Thursday, Andrew Yang said his “heart breaks” when he thinks about what happened. He said he is “extraordinarily proud” of his wife.

“She is my best friend and the bravest woman I know,” Andrew Yang said. “No one deserves to be harmed and treated the way she and countless other women have been. When victims of abuse come forward, they deserve our belief, support, and protection. I hope that Evelyn’s story gives strength to those who have suffered and sends a clear message that our institutions must do more to protect and respond to women.”