Actor and director Hosea Chanchez opened up about a traumatizing incident in his youth. Best known for his role on The Game, the 37-year-old revealed he was molested at the age of 14.
In an Instagram post Tuesday (Sept. 3) the actor explained how fear kept him from sharing how a friend’s father molested him and threatened him if he told anyone. Chanchez, the child of a single mother, said he viewed the older man as a father figure. “He would always tell me I was like his other son, so I can trust he’s always looking for me,” he said. “Further building my trust and commitment to his predatory agenda.”
But when the actor turned 14, their conversations turned sexual.
“A week before this day, my friend’s dad was asking me what type of girls I liked and if I had sex with a girl yet,” he said. “I didn’t know at the time but he was trying to see where my boundaries were. He was using false hyper-masculinity as a way to sniff out my comfort level with sex and privacy.”
Chanchez said as he was given a ride home, his father’s friend (who he later revealed to be a man named Issac Sanders) took a detour route and molested him.
“I hope this truth helps to stop child molesting predators from sexually assaulting more children,” he said. “Pedophiles have no place in our society they hide in the open and rape children who are afraid to speak up because of shame, guilt, fear, denial and the thought that no one will believe them. I’m doing this to help parents and young children become aware of some of the signs and better protect themselves from sexual predators.”
Chanchez was met with support from his peers like Naturi Naughton, Jill Marie Jones, Megan Good, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Pose star Indya Moore. Despite not being in the public eye, Sanchez has returned to the small screen. The actor is currently starring in CW’s Black Lightning and is leading a one-man show, Good Mourning.
Produced by Naughton, Chanchez wrote and directed the play about a father who loses his child to leukemia. His grievance lasts 36 days as he finds solace in his daughter’s toys. The play carries messages about the importance of mental health in the African-American community.
“Mental health is the backdrop for what’s happening here,” he told the LA Sentinel. “Specifically, in the African American community, and with people of color, and even more specifically, with men, not only is it not acceptable in society to grieve and heal and mourn in the traditional standard as it is for women, but it’s also not as many resources for certain people.”
Chanchez starred in Mara Brock Akil-directed series The Game as Malik Wright, from 2006 to 2015.
