What About the Bad Stuff?

Award-winning director Keegan Martin has spent a lifetime building worlds on screen, but in this episode of You're Not Alone, the 1in6 podcast, he does something he's never done before: he talks publicly about being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. With hosts Anthony Edwards and Beau Friedlander, Keegan describes being abused by an older relative beginning when he was seven, a relative who seemed like "the cool kid" and made the secret feel like being let in on something special. For years, Keegan thought it wasn't a big deal, until substance abuse and the strain on a promising career made clear how much that early wound still shaped him.

Keegan grew up in a home he describes as isolated and emotionally absent, where raising a problem or telling the truth would make people leave the room. With no one paying close attention, the abuse went unnoticed and the secret grew. He talks about how movies became an escape from being himself, how he drifted toward "outsider" kids and risky situations, and how, again and again, the way he learned to connect with people was rooted in that first unhealthy connection.

This is a trauma-informed conversation about male sexual abuse recovery and healing from childhood trauma. Keegan and the hosts explore how survival strategies, escape, performance, self-medication, eventually start running your life, and how a marriage and an alcohol addiction can trace back to a single moment in childhood. Keegan reflects on getting sober and finally talking about his abuse with other men in recovery, and how a secret he was sure would destroy him instead lost its power the moment he said it out loud.

Out of that came connection he never thought possible, friends he can call and talk with openly, a relationship rebuilt with his brother, and a growing sense that "the shame is not yours; it's something that happened to you, not because of you." Together with the hosts' reflections on their own healing, this episode is an invitation to any man, especially anyone who has never told a single person, to know that talking about it is the way through, and that you are not alone.

In this episode:

• Realizing what happened "wasn't normal", and the silence that followed
• A relative who seemed like "the cool kid," and how secrecy felt like connection
• Escape as survival: movies, fantasy worlds, and self-medication
• A childhood home where truth and conflict made people disappear
• Tracing addiction, a marriage, and broken connections back to age seven
• How sobriety and talking with other survivors began to dissolve the shame

Content note: This episode discusses childhood sexual abuse, grooming, addiction and alcoholism, neglect, and a peer's suicide. It is non-graphic and support-forward throughout.

You are not alone. 1 in 6 men have had an unwanted or abusive sexual experience. Free, confidential support is available 24/7 through the 1in6 Helpline and online support groups at 1in6.org.

#MaleSurvivors #YoureNotAlone #1in6