SUSAN SARANDON has broken a 20-year silence and revealed she was brutally raped by a man she was dating.

The THELMA AND LOUISE beauty admits she was raped by an unnamed man after her four-year marriage to actor CHRIS SARANDON ended in 1979. She says, "At the time I didn't realize it was rape. I was young and naive. "But whenever a man wants you to have sex and overpowers you and you don't want to do it - that's rape - even when it's the guy you're dating." She adds, "I ended up having a nervous breakdown. I became ill, I was in hospital for a while. I rescued myself and I longed never to let a man take advantage of me again." (MB/TS/MCM)

Source: WENN