Following the death of Rolf Harris, an Australian make-up artist has come forward to share her traumatic experience of being molested by the disgraced entertainer.
Harris died on Tuesday in the UK after battling neck cancer, almost a decade after he was found guilty of abusing four girls and young women.
Suzi Dent, one of the victims targeted by Harris, spoke out about the horrifying abuse she endured, saying she hoped his death could provide closure for his victims.
“It brings closure to me and I hope that it brings closure to the other victims,” she said on Sunrise on Wednesday morning before a later appearance on A Current Affair.
“But because he’s dead doesn’t mean that his other survivors have actually found closure themselves, so I’m hoping and praying that they will, and this may be the beginning of their healing journey, if they haven’t started already. Because forgiveness is the gift that we give ourselves.”
In 1986 Ms Dent, then 23 years old, was elated to begin work as a make-up artist alongside her childhood idol at a Channel 7 studio.
However, her excitement quickly turned into a nightmare when she was repeatedly molested by Harris on set and forced to hide in a cupboard afterwards to avoid him.
Ms Dent played a crucial role as an anonymous character witness in Harris’ trial a decade ago, which led to his conviction on 12 counts of indecent assault against girls and a young woman spanning from 1968 to 1986.
Despite the horrific encounter, Ms Dent’s initial thoughts upon hearing of Harris’ death were for his wife and daughter, in a remarkable show of compassion.
“I don’t care about him in the slightest. Only found out he was dead because I was told,” she told A Current Affair on Wednesday night.
“I don’t have a gut reaction except to think about his wife and his daughter, to be honest, and what they’re going through, because regardless of the monsters among us, they still have people, women usually, who love and support them. So I was really thinking about my condolences to both of them.
“They are not the ones that molested little girls. They’re the ones who had their lives completely up-ended and changed. They do not choose who their father was and had to go with this ride that they’ve been on this whole life and with daddy being sent to jail as a convicted paedophile, they would have had a huge emotional toll on both of them, I believe.”
Dent expressed her hope for other survivors’ healing journey to begin, acknowledging that forgiveness is ultimately a gift one gives themselves.
Nearly four decades after the ordeal, Dent vividly remembers the traumatic events inflicted upon her by Harris. She recalled being assaulted multiple times in front of others, enduring unwanted advances as he ran his hands up her legs and shorts throughout a work day.
Dent made a conscious decision to avoid being alone with Harris when removing his thick makeup in the makeup room at the end of the day.
She said she hid in a large cupboard across the studio, keeping a watchful eye on the hallway. As Harris prepared to leave, he stood outside her makeup room while she remained concealed.
She waited until he was escorted away before emerging from the cupboard.
Dent realised she needed to protect herself and took approximately 10 minutes to ensure Harris had truly left before returning to her room to pack up her belongings. It was then that she decided to lodge a complaint about what had transpired.
“It did have an impact on my life for many years, but in the last several years I‘ve been speaking about it a fair amount,” she continued. “We need to speak … it has helped me in my healing journey.”
In 2019, Dent chose to waive her anonymity to publicly share her harrowing story for the first time. She revealed that working with Rolf Harris, who she considered the biggest star she had ever worked with, had initially excited her due to her admiration for him since childhood.
However, she froze when Harris repeatedly touched her, unable to react or defend herself as it was not deemed acceptable for women to stand up for themselves in 1986.
“People really took free rain with touching women who didn’t want to be touched (back then),” she explained to ACA.
“I didn’t wear any dresses or tight fitted for the rest of my life. I have hid my body until I was 54 years old.
“I did a lot of my own internal healing, and it was time for me to come out and tell my story. I realise that the Me Too movement had moved a long way in America but in Australia, it had ground to a halt.
“I really want to come out with a reminder that it started with us, that we are strong women and that it is really important we step up, speak out and support other women to empower themselves and to empower others.”