RHODubai’s Chanel Ayan Survived Genital Mutilation at Age 5

In addition to the physical pain it caused her during her teenage and teenage years, the experience left lasting emotional scars.

“I think this injury is something I will live with for the rest of my life,” Ayan said. “That’s why I want to talk about it, because I honestly don’t want this to happen to anybody, because I know exactly how it feels, and it’s not good. A lot of girls get depressed, hormonal imbalances, a lot of young girls die.”

Ayan says it’s “the first time most of my friends and family will actually see what I’m talking about” the traumatic experience.

“We don’t share such things, in our families it is somehow kept quiet,” Ayan explained. “I’m just feeling myself after the opening [up about] That, I was taking my power away from the people who did this to me, who I trusted the most, because I was five years old and I didn’t know what was happening to me. I didn’t even know what was happening. I just want to bring as much attention to it as I can because it’s still happening 35 years later. Every 11 minutes it happens to a little girl who is just as confused as I am.’

The Bravo star is even launching her own makeup line, Ayan Beauty, to raise funds to help end this harmful practice.

“As long as I’m using my platform to raise awareness to stop this — if I can save 20 girls, 100 girls, 500 girls, I feel like that’s my goal.” — RODubai – said the star. “This is child abuse. And many girls just die for no reason.”