Wife of Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang Says She Was Sexually Assaulted While Pregnant by OBGYN

"Everyone has their own #MeToo story. It's far too prevalent," she told CNN.
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"Everyone has their own #MeToo story. It's far too prevalent," Evelyn Yang told CNN.

The wife of Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang revealed in an emotional and candid interview that she was sexually assaulted while pregnant.

"Everyone has their own #MeToo story. It's far too prevalent," she told CNN. "But not everyone can tell their story. Not everyone has the audience or platform to tell their story, and I actually feel like I'm in this very privileged position to be able to do that."

Speaking to Dana Bash, Evelyn Yang said her former OBGYN Dr. Robert Hadden was grossly inappropriate during her prenatal exams while she was seven months pregnant with her first child in 2012.

“It started with inappropriate questions around how intimate I was with my husband, sexual activity, just very inappropriate probing questions unrelated to my health,” she recalled. “He proceeded to grab me over to him and undress me and examine me internally, ungloved. At first I was a little bit like ‘What is going on here?’"

She said that she “froze” when the assault would happen. 

"I just kind of froze like a deer in headlights, just frozen. I knew it was happening. I could feel it," she added. "I remember trying to fix my eyes on a spot on the wall and just trying to avoid seeing his face as he was assaulting me, just waiting for it to be over."

It was years before she told her husband, then a tech entrepreneur who rose to fame when he announced his candidacy for president last year. 

Years after the assault, Evelyn joined 17 other women accusing Hadden of sexual assault and she testified against him in front of a grand jury.

Hadden pleaded guilty to only two charges involving two women. He forfeited his medical license and had to register as a low-level sex offender. He served no jail time. 

“It's like getting slapped in the face and punched in the gut. There is no justice here,” Evelyn said.

He now lives in a colonial style home in Englewood, New Jersey, with his wife and family. 

The number of women accusing Hadden has risen to 30. He has denied all allegations of wrongdoing except for the two that he pleaded guilty to. The Manhattan district attorney's office said that while they understand the pain of the survivors their goal was to take away his license so he could never harm anyone else.

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