How Genevieve Meyer Survived
by Francine Dash
November 2019
Genevieve Meyer had an average childhood, growing up in sunny southern California, with her brother and with her mother, Suzanne Prideaux, a single mother of two; and a grandfather who offered stability and normalcy to her young life. She loved ballet and reading and was a bright child. Then Genevieve turned five years old and her life began to turn for the worse.
They All Fell Apart
Her grandfather, who had been her father figure, had become ill and would soon pass away. Her brother who was sixteen, got his girlfriend pregnant. So, he married his pregnant girlfriend and moved away. Then, her mother gained a new love interest.
There was a homeless teen who their church was trying to place, so he could get his life together. He had problems, and lots of them. So, Genevieve’s mother offered to help by taking the teenager into her home. Genevieve’s mother was in his early thirties; and the homeless teenager who would become her step-father was just shy of eighteen.
Struggling with her stepfather’s addiction caused numerous problems for the young family of now three, since her brother left and her grandfather passed away. “He was just a very broken man and the thought was that if we could just get him away from his addiction, things would get better; but they didn’t,” said Genevieve, as she recounts her childhood.
The Big Move
So, when the family received the news that Genevieve’s grandmother was ill and in need of care, back in Ohio, Genevieve’s mother, according to Genevieve, thought that this was just want her husband needed – a new start away from the areas he would frequent for drugs. It was during this time in Ohio that Genevieve recalls her first memory of being molested by a friend of the family.
“My mother, stepfather and this friend of a friend all bought a house together in Youngstown; but there was always a struggle to pay the bills. This guy was more like an landlord and just began to befriend me. He would take walks with me and I would run errands with him to the store. I now realize that he was just grooming me.”
When Genevieve told her mother, instead of the man being called out, Genevieve was blamed. In fact the abuse was 'allowed' to continue until the parent of another child reported that Genevieve, who was eleven years old at the time, told her daughter about her 33 year old 'boyfriend'.
Normalizing Sexual Abuse
Genevieve coped by normalizing the abuse and learning not to fight against it. It became the lesser of two evils, as she suffered physical and verbal abuse from her parents and sexual abuse from this predator.
He was later jailed for less than a year; and Genevieve grew up feeling as though she was at fault.
After this incident, Genevieve attempted to run away and was later caught and sent to juvenile. She was then put into foster care and later ended up in a home that provided supervision, support and consistency. She was even finally able to go to school, except her mother refused to sign over guardianship allowing Genevieve to do so.
Instead, the second time Genevieve is molested, her mother signs over custody to the 43-year-old man who molested her and who would become her husband, by force, in a Mississippi court room. Genevieve was just 15 years old.
Hear more of Genevieve’s story, in her own words, on our podcast, POINTCAST. >>