Alice Munro's daughter reveals her mother knew she had been abused by Munro's husband

[afeelingunacted]

One of the saddest stories I’ve ever worked on. Gerald Fremlin sexually abused Andrea Skinner when she was a child. When her mother found out, she chose him over her daughter. Her mother was Alice Munro. https://t.co/mnL3EBCTG3
- Richard Warnica (@richardwarnica) July 7, 2024

• The Toronto Star has a piece written by Alice Munro's youngest daughter

Comments

[afeelingunacted]

I can't stop thinking about this story, it's so profoundly disturbing. I read the profile on Alice Munro that Skinner talks about in the New Yorker that made her decide to go to the police. Munro talks about this predator as the great love of her life. Their story was so romantic, they met in university and they decided to move in together after one drink when they met post divorce.

And that whole time she knew that not only had he molested her daughter and possibly others but that he talked about her child in such disgusting demeaning terms. A fucking 9 year old child.

I hope Fremlin is burning in hell.

Also kudos to the older siblings for coming together as adults to undo the silence, secrecy and toxicity that led them to push Andrea out. She is a brave, brave woman. I wish her all the love in the world.

[skyler_white_yo]

It’s abhorrent how many women will choose a man over their own child. I hope Andrea is finding love and healing.

[syphilisdiller]

Skinner's father found out shortly after it happened. He and Skinner's stepmother decided the best way to deal with this was to have her older sister go with her when she visited Munro to make sure Andrea wasn't molested again (this failed)

I know it's so many people's reality, but I can't comprehend having parents that wouldn't do any/everything to protect you.

[damaliaraya]

I’m trying to fathom how this wouldn’t just put her sister in danger as well???? Rather than do ANYTHING to protect his child he just went “hell, let’s offer up both!”

What is the thought process? What loyalty did he have to his ex wife’s husband to make him chose this path? I am…I can’t fathom

[afeelingunacted]

I’m trying to fathom how this wouldn’t just put her sister in danger as well???? Andrea was the baby, her sister would have been a young adult at the time (around 22

[littlepunkryo]

The article mostly focuses on the mother going back to her husband (after splitting briefly not bc he was molesting young girls but bc he was like cheating on her and it was humiliating for her apparently?) but for me it's just as gross that her dad knew basically immediately after it happened and didn't do shit. Like he found out over a decade before the mom did and his solution was...say absolutely nothing and send another girl with his daughter to this man's house.

[theactualworst]

How the fuck could her father do nothing??? Then to put the older sister in danger as well and make her responsible?? Jesus Christ. I’ve heard stories of mother’s turning a blind eye to their partners (which I still can’t fathom) but what did her father have to lose??

Truly so tragic and rage inducing.

[afeelingunacted]

Not excusing it all but with boomers/silent generation there was a real "keep your head down and forget about it" attitude that was really common at the time and totally incomprehensible to us today.

In the article they also talked about how within the family there was a lot of stress on protecting Munro and her career. Even at the time though she wasn't the icon she is today she was a successful writer and her ex and the older kids seemed to see her as a fragile genius who needed to be protected.

Not Andrea though! It really seems like the person who cared the most was her stepbrother who was the same age as her. JFC.

[deja_vu822]

yeah, i can't understand her father either. i also recently read a memoir from a comedian I like (Paul Scheer) that detailed how his stepfather was violently abusive to him and his mother, and despite his actual father being very present and loving in his life, his father knew about his stepfather's abuse and didn't do anything to protect him from it. It's mind-boggling that this happens so often.

[lone_concertina]

Every tidbit I hear from that book has me dreading when it's finally my turn at the library to check it out. I'm sure it's also funny but jfc that man saw some shit

[somacomatose]

i'm honestly so sick of humans. the fact that this same thing is definitely still happening everywhere all around the world makes me want to scream into oblivion.

[goldenhera]

Yeah, we have better language to speak about these instances of abuse, but I don't know that the prevalence has changed. People continue to shield abusers while throwing children to the wolves. It's horrific.