The youngest daughter of renowned Canadian author Alice Munro has revealed the sexual abuse she endured at the hands of her stepfather and expressed the profound pain she felt when her mother chose to support her husband over her.
In a personal essay published in the Toronto Star on Sunday, Andrea Robin Skinner detailed how Nobel Prize-winning writer Munro stayed married to her second husband, Gerald Fremlin, even after learning of the abuse.
Skinner wrote the essay to provide Canadians with a more comprehensive understanding of the Nobel Laureate, revered as a literary icon long before her death in May.
“I wanted this story — my story — to become part of the stories people tell about my mother,” she wrote. “I never wanted to see another interview, biography, or event that didn’t wrestle with the reality of what had happened to me and with the fact that my mother, confronted with the truth of what had happened, chose to stay with and protect my abuser.”
Skinner recounted in the Star that the abuse began in 1976 when she was nine and visiting her mother in Ontario for the summer after spending most of the year in British Columbia with her father. According to her, Fremlin climbed into her bed and initiated sexual contact while Munro was out of the house.
On her last day of the visit, Fremlin allegedly asked for details about her sex life and shared aspects of his own while driving her to the airport.
Initially, Skinner told her father and stepbrother about the incident, but neither informed Munro right away.
Skinner claimed Fremlin continued to expose himself to her and proposition her for sex until he lost interest when she reached her teens.
She described years of suffering from bulimia, insomnia, migraines, and dropping out of an international development program at the University of Toronto due to the continued impact of Fremlin’s predatory behavior.
In her 20s, Skinner wrote to Munro detailing the abuse by Fremlin, but she said she received no sympathy from her mother. Skinner reported the abuse to police in 2005, and Fremlin ultimately pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault.
Despite the guilty plea, Munro remained with Fremlin until his death in 2013. Munro explained she was “told too late” about the abuse, that her love for Fremlin was too strong to leave him, and that she couldn’t be expected to “deny her own needs,” Skinner wrote in the Star.
Skinner noted that the abuse was an open secret within the Munro family for years, leading to a period of estrangement from her entire family.
Now working as a meditation and mindfulness teacher, Skinner said she has reconciled with her siblings but never with her mother.
Munro’s Books, the bookstore Alice Munro founded in Victoria with her first husband, James, issued a statement on its website supporting Skinner. The bookstore has been independently owned since 2014.
“Munro’s Books unequivocally supports Andrea Robin Skinner as she publicly shares her story of her sexual abuse as a child,” the store said. “Learning the details of Andrea’s experience has been heartbreaking.”
The bookstore also shared a statement from Andrea, her siblings Jenny and Sheila, and her step-brother Andrew.
“By acknowledging and honoring Andrea’s truth, and being very clear about their wish to end the legacy of silence, the current store owners have become part of our family’s healing,” they said. “We wholly support the owners and staff.”
Support for those who have been sexually assaulted is available through crisis lines and local services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety, please call 911.