The Central Park Jogger is angry with Oprah.
Trisha Meili, who in 1989 was brutally assaulted in one of the city’s most infamous crimes, said she was blindsided in her first interview when Winfrey questioned her about being raped and beaten.
“She kinda leaned over to me and said, ‘What were you doing in the park at that hour?’ ” Meili told New York 1 in an interview that aired last night.
“If she were to ask me that question now, I’d say, ‘Well, if that isn’t a blame-the-victim question, I don’t know what is,’ ” she said.
“Because that’s exactly what it is – so it’s like, OK, it’s my fault that I was out there . . . I think that’s still one of the most difficult battles that sexual-assault survivors need to fight. Because there is that feeling, that assumption – what did you do, what were you wearing.”
Meili was a 28-year-old investment banker when she was attacked while jogging shortly before 10 p.m. on April 19, 1989. She was assaulted in a remote section of the park, beaten with rocks and pipes, raped and left for dead.
Meili, who spent 12 days in a coma, said she was at a loss when Oprah questioned her about being in the park, in an interview for Winfrey’s “O” magazine in 2002.
“And I thought, I was thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, OK, a million things going through my mind. How do you answer this,’ ” she told NY1.
Five teenagers were convicted in 1990 of the attack, including four who confessed on videotape.
But their sentences were overturned when a convicted murderer serving a life sentence admitted in 2002 that he attacked Meili.
DNA evidence proved he was involved in the rape, but some detectives suspected he was trying to ingratiate himself with imprisoned friends of the teens by claiming he alone took part in the attack.
Meili said she had no regrets about revealing her identity in her 2003 memoir, “I Am the Central Park Jogger.”