Return to Transcripts main page
Jane Velez-Mitchell
Victims React to `Legitimate Rape` Remark
Aired August 20, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Tonight, nationwide outrage after a congressman makes the unbelievable claim that a legitimate rape rarely leads to a pregnancy.
Legitimate rape? Really? We`re going to talk to three women who know from personal experience what it means to be sexually assaulted, and they have strong words for that congressman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): Tonight, escalating outrage over a congressman`s jaw-dropping rape comments. A Missouri politician says women`s bodies can block unwanted pregnancy that results from, quote/unquote, "legitimate rape." So why does our own government say more than 32,000 American women get pregnant from rape every year? And what exactly would this man classify as an illegitimate rape? We`ll talk live to three rape survivors, who are furious. And we`re taking your calls.
And Megan Boken was looking forward to a fun weekend playing in the alumni volleyball game at St. Louis University. Now her old teammates and friends are devastated, wondering why this beautiful recent college grad was gunned down in her car just hours before the game. We`ll investigate.
Also, what would cause "Top Gun" director Tony Scott to jump to his death? We`ll have the very latest information on what may have driven the Hollywood legend to commit suicide.
And stranded alone in the wilderness with an injured foot, a gorgeous young woman tapes her own terrifying ordeal while stuck in a trench with a broken ankle. You have to see it to believe it.
Plus, Rihanna calls Chris Brown, quote, "the love of my life." How could she truly love the man who beat her to a bloody pulp? We`ll talk about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is this controversy out in Missouri, that issue of Congressman Todd Akin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of outrage surrounding Todd Akin.
REP. TODD AKIN (MO-R), MISSOURI SENATE CANDIDATE: If it`s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Quote, "A legitimate rape," unquote, rarely ends in pregnancy. Now, Akin says he misspoke.
AKIN: People always want to try and make that as one of those things, well, "How do you -- how do you slice this tough sort of ethical question?"
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, uproar and disbelief after some outrageous comments about rape leave the entire nation stunned.
Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell coming to you live. Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, who is running for the U.S. Senate, is facing a firestorm tonight after he answered a question about abortion saying that, quote, "legitimate rape rarely leads to pregnancy." Listen to the congressman in his own words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about in the case of rape? Should it be legal?
AKIN: Well, you know, people always want to try and make that as one of those things, "Well, how do you -- how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question?" It seems to me first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that`s really rare. If it`s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let`s...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Excuse me? Is there some kind of rape he consider considers to be illegitimate, that doesn`t count as real rape?
Well, after the immediate angry backlash, Congressman Akin started to backpedal. Listen to his radio interview from WRGA Radio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AKIN (via phone): And they`re equally vulnerable, and a rape is equally tragic. And I made that statement in error.
Let me be clear: rape is never legitimate. It`s an evil act. It`s committed by violent predators. I used the wrong words in the wrong way. What I said was ill-conceived, and it was wrong. And for that I apologize.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But did he create more controversy in the specifics of his apology? We`re going to get to that. As one rape survivor put it, "Apology not accepted. You cannot take those words back that easily."
And the congressman isn`t dropping out of the race for the Senate either.
What do you think about his comments? I want to hear from you at home. Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.
Straight out to Heidi Damon. Thank you so much for joining tonight.
HEIDI DAMON, SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVOR: Thank you for having me again.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You`re a survivor of sexual assault. In the process of trying to rape you, your attacker choked you in a parking lot. You woke up without your clothes on.
DAMON: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The attacker is now in prison. What is your reaction to Congressman Akin`s words?
DAMON: Well, I have a lot of reaction to it. First of all, "legitimate" and "rape" don`t go next to each other in a statement of any type. I think that him saying what he said was irresponsible as someone that wants to represent a U.S. seat.
And I also think that him going on record based on other people`s studies, or thoughts, or opinions and putting it into his own vocabulary, that`s really how he felt.
He, unfortunately, got a lot of backlash, and now he`s backpedaling, saying, "Oh, OK, maybe that wasn`t good for me running in office. So someone coached me on how to bail myself out."
But it`s too late, and apology not accepted. You cannot take back words. And he did probably a lot of damage to some people who are probably recovering, as well. So he has no right and especially as a man. He doesn`t know. You know, the abortion topic, even by itself. A man should not make those decisions.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So Congressman Akin claimed in his original statement that if it`s a legitimate rape, quote, "the female body has ways to try to shut that thing down," end quote. Shut that thing. Is he referring to insemination, presumably?
He claimed doctors told him that pregnancy from rape was, quote, "really rare," end quote. But here are the facts from the U.S. government, the CDC. Every year more than 32,000 women become pregnant from being raped. That`s every year, and that`s only the reported rapes. So that number could actually be a lot higher.
Now we`re going to talk right now to one rape survivor who wrote a letter to Congressman Akin, quote: "Dear Representative Akin, I was raped. I do not know if, in your terms, it was legitimate rape. Yes, I cried hysterically. Yes, I fought until my body ached. And yes, I changed afterward in ways I could not ever imagine."
Again, very honored to have with me Shauna Prewitt. You became pregnant after you were raped. Your daughter, your beautiful daughter is now 7 year old, and there you are in a picture together.
Why did you write this letter, Shauna, to Congressman Akin?
SHAUNA PREWITT, RAPE SURVIVOR: I was absolutely outraged when I heard his comments. Women who are raped face absolute shame in society. From the moment that you dare utter the word "rape," you are judged: by police, by prosecutors, even by legislators. And now women like me are in a position of being judged yet again.
This time I have to try to convince people that I was raped, because I became pregnant from the rape. It`s just ridiculous. And it`s creating such an uphill battle for women in positions like me in order to rectify these problems.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, as somebody in the makeup room said today, "What biology class did he miss?" Because as one doctor put it, this is willful ignorance of science.
Essentially, Shauna, his original comment is implying that somehow a woman`s egg can recognize when there`s the potential of insemination, that oh, my gosh, a knife is being held to a woman`s throat or a gun is being held to a woman`s head? I mean, essentially isn`t that what he is saying, Shauna?
PREWITT: That is -- that is absolutely what he`s saying. And I don`t know what science classes he took, but they certainly weren`t the ones that I took. And I can just say that, you know, from my own experience and having worked with many women who have -- many women who have been pregnant from rape, it`s just absolutely not true.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: After this uproar over his comment, Congressman Akin began backtracking, saying he was actually talking about, quote, "forcible rape" and not, quote, "legitimate rape." Did he add insult to injury? Listen to this as he`s backtracking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MIKE HUCKABEE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: What did you mean by legitimate rape? Were you attempting to say forcible rape? Or was that just -- Where did that come from?
AKIN (via phone): Well, yes, I was talking about forcible rape, and it was absolutely the wrong word. Yes.
HUCKABEE: But you do realize, I mean, there are rapes that result in pregnancy?
AKIN: That`s right. I know that. And in fact, I have known people who have been raped. I don`t know any who have been raped and it turned out to be in pregnancy. But I know that happens, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Unbelievable. Again, at least 32,000 women every year -- you just heard from one very courageous woman who`s speaking out -- become pregnant as a result of being raped. And now this comment as he`s backtracking, saying, "Well, I was talking about forcible rape."
Laura Dunn, you survived sexual assault on a college campus. Is he essentially saying now, "Well, forcible -- I was talking about forcible rape. `Rape` rape. Not the other kind of rape."
LAURA DUNN, SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVOR: Yes, I think any time you qualify rape, you`re making a very dangerous statement. And "forcible" is just as much of a misnomer as saying "legitimate." It really isn`t acknowledging the majority of rapes, which happen with acquaintances, with partners, on dates or with someone you know.
And he`s just trying to limit it to individuals that are using violence who are often strangers. And that just isn`t the majority of rape cases. And for him to ignore those, and he has done this elsewhere in his legislative policies, just ignoring significant amounts of victims, this man has no business running for office. He needs to resign, and he needs to really check himself, because he is offending victims like me and others throughout the country.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side of the break, we`re taking your calls. They are lining up. Did the congressman, in trying to distance himself from his original comments, just add insult to injury? On the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about in the case of rape? Should it be legal or not?
AKIN: Well, you know, people always want to try and make that as one of those things, "Well, how do you -- how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question?" It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that`s really rare. If it`s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And what biology class did he miss, as somebody put it? And as a woman right here in the studio who`s working around the camera said in the commercial break, "Isn`t all rape forcible rape?" Very well put.
Let`s go out to the phone lines. Linda, Ohio, your question or thought, Linda? Hey, Linda. Can you hear me?
CALLER: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Your question or thought.
CALLER: Oh, here I go.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Your question or thought, my dear.
CALLER: Hi, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi.
CALLER: I love you. I love your show.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.
CALLER: Yes, I can hear you.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, your question or thought, my dear?
CALLER: Oh, I do. That man, that Todd Akin has no right to talk about women, their body. You know, that is not right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, yes, exactly. That`s why we have women on tonight, talking about their bodies, three women who were the victims -- and I shouldn`t say victims. Let me correct myself. The survivors of sexual assault.
And I want to go round robin to these three women. Now we talked about sort of the facts, and we talked about the science and we talked about the medicine, but I want to talk about how this makes you feel. Is this -- these comments, do they make you feel in some way violated again? And let`s start with Laura Dunn.
DUNN: To tell you the truth, when I first heard this, it really did deeply personally affect me. It brought back the moment I decided to report my rape. It brought back all the thoughts that I had to consider. How would people see me? Would people believe me? How would my family react? Just knowing there is this ignorance out there, that there`s only certain types of rapes that are, you know, excused and condemned. And that -- you know, that there`s different signs that show truth to whether women are reporting rape and whether it has or hasn`t happened.
I mean, it really brought back all my personal emotions from facing that decision. And it`s infuriating. You know, it`s been more than seven years. I shouldn`t have to think about this anymore.
CALLER: Heidi Damon, sexual assault survivor?
DAMON: You know, my original thought was he just lost his election on his own. My second reaction was, you know, thank goodness my perpetrator did not follow through with the act.
But kind of what Laura said, it brings it all back, and it just does more damage to this topic that people don`t really understand what goes on in the mind of someone who`s been assaulted and the damage that continues to happen daily with these people not knowing, really, what they`re talking about in a public light.
And someone representing, you know, in a U.S. seat is there to protect people. He didn`t protect anybody. But now he`s trying to protect his butt by what he said. So, it just -- you know, his "legitimate rape" statement is just -- just way off and -- and inappropriate.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Shauna Prewitt, again, from the heart, your whole life changed because you were raped. And I`m reading the letter you wrote to this congressman. You said, "I`m an attorney and the busy single mother of an amazing second grader." And this is all because you were raped. You actually enrolled at Georgetown Law School, because you found out that, in the vast majority of states, a rapist has the same custody and visitation rights to a child born through his crime as other fathers, which is horrifying.
How did this congressman`s words impact you emotionally?
PREWITT: I think the thing that was hardest for me is that I dedicated my professional life to trying to get states around this country to change their laws so that men who father through rape cannot have custody or visitation rights.
And the biggest obstacle to that that we always face is legislators have a hard time believing that any woman would want to keep a child that she conceives through rape. So I`m always fighting against that.
And yesterday, when I read Representative Akin`s comments, I realized that now I have a new obstacle. And that`s to try to convince these legislators that a woman can even get pregnant from rape. It`s just absolutely ridiculous. And it`s going to further put us back in trying to give meaningful legal protection to women around this country.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Is this regurgitating old notions that many American women thought we had left behind decades ago? Like the notion that, well, sometimes it`s a real rape. But sometimes, maybe she asked for it. Sometimes maybe, you know, she was partly responsible for it.
On the other side, more callers. I want to hear from you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No means yes. Yes means (EXPLETIVE DELETED). No means yes. Yes means (EXPLETIVE DELETED). No means yes. Yes means (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No means yes. Yes means (EXPLETIVE DELETED). No means yes. Yes means (EXPLETIVE DELETED). No means yes. Yes means (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No means yes. Yes means (EXPLETIVE DELETED). No means yes. Yes means (EXPLETIVE DELETED). No means yes. Yes means (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That is the infamous Yale rape chant from YouTube, and it`s just extraordinary that men at Yale in the 21st Century would be saying, "No means yes. Yes means" -- and we can`t even tell you what yes means.
Let`s go out to the phone lines. Laura, California, your question or thought on this congressman?
CALLER: Yes. When I was 12 I was molested for a week. And now I`m 61, and I can tell that idiot there`s not a day that I have gone by that I don`t think of that moron. I didn`t ask for it. I didn`t think that I wanted anything. And this moron, I wonder how he would feel if it happened to his daughter or son?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Or him. Men can be raped. That`s a fact.
Let`s go out to Stacey Honowitz, Florida prosecutor, supervisor of the sex crimes unit in the Florida prosecutor`s office. Explain to us, from your perspective, why his comments created such an uproar?
STACEY HONOWITZ, SEX CRIMES PROSECUTOR: Well, first of all, you can`t argue with stupidity. You know, we`re sitting here trying to justify or try to argue with him. It`s the stupidest thing you could ever say.
And certainly, your points were correct. I think he was trying to say, "Well, you know, sometimes you might ask for it, and so it`s not a legitimate, forceful rape."
Any way you slice it, this is the dumbest statement anyone could ever say. And just like the last caller, everybody who`s raped will tell you that they live with it for a very long time. These are lasting effects. And for having to -- somebody to come back out and make a comment like that, it is a double violation.
Honestly, what he was trying to say is so ridiculous. I mean, like you said. So the ovaries are supposed to know that this is an unwanted baby. I mean, that`s what he`s trying to say: that you know. Your body is a mind reader, and if there`s a knife to your throat, your body will automatically know that you can`t get pregnant. Try telling it to the 11- and 12-year-olds that I have in my office that are raped and are now pregnant, because I see a lot of it all the time.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know, Tanya Acker, attorney, I`ve been trying to construct a way to say it non-graphically, to actually bring home his point that he has actually not really backtracked from because then he said, "Well, I was just talking about forcible rape." But the point is that, essentially, if you believe his original comments, he`s suggesting that a woman`s egg will reject sperm, when she has not agreed to the sexual intercourse.
TANYA ACKER, ATTORNEY: I`m sorry, Jane. I`m laughing only in the darkest, darkest way. This man is on the House -- is on the science committee of the United States House of Representatives. He is helping right now to craft our science policies in the United States of America. And he seems to have a bizarre notion about ovaries and eggs not responding to the semen of a rapist. I mean, this is beyond bizarre.
And what`s even more interesting is that his -- his apology, his having misspoken. And by the way, I don`t know what misspeaking means. Did he completely back away from that concept? Who are these doctors who told him about this bizarre working of the female anatomy? Who were they? Or did he just make it up?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: More from our rape survivors and from you on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is this controversy out in Missouri that -- that issue of Congressman Todd Akin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of outrage surrounding Todd Akin from Marston (ph).
AKIN: If it`s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Quote, "a legitimate rape," unquote, rarely ends in pregnancy. Now Akin says he misspoke.
AKIN: People always want to try and make that as one of these, "Well, how do you -- how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question?"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: An uproar tonight because of the words of Congressman Todd Akin of Missouri. He is running for the U.S. Senate, and what he said about pregnancy and rape has women across the country livid. Hear his own words for yourself. And then we`re going to get reaction from three survivors of rape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about in the case of rape? Should it be legal or not?
AKIN: Well, you know, people always want to try and make that as one of those things, "Well, how do you -- how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question?" It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that`s really rare. If it`s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: "Shut that whole thing down", what is he referring to "that whole thing down"? Is he referring to the process of insemination, suggesting that if a woman is being raped that somehow the insemination process cannot occur? Well, the Centers for Disease Control begs to differ. The U.S. government says 32,000 women become pregnant every year as a result of being raped.
And right now we`re going to go to one of those women, Shauna Prewitt, who is very, very courageously talking to us about her experience. She wrote a letter to the Congressman. Shauna, you became pregnant from rape. You kept your child. You have a beautiful 7-year-old now. And it has been a life-changing experience for you because you decided to become a lawyer because you were so outraged that the attacker would have the same visitation rights as any ordinary dad.
He has apologized, the Congressman, from the remarks that he made. Do you accept his apology?
SHAUNA PREWITT, RAPE VICTIM: I don`t accept his apology. I think it`s absolutely too little, too late. What he did has set back the country in terms of how to treat and deal with rape victims. And it`s absolutely inexcusable.
And you know, I`m already fielding calls from people wondering how we`re going to deal with any kind of legislation that we`re currently trying to propose in various states to try to protect women from fathers who try to get custody of their children they conceived through rape.
And you know, it`s a very difficult situation. I don`t accept his apology whatsoever.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Women and men have been protesting this victim- blaming. Statements like "she asked for it" or "it wasn`t really rape". Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(PROTESTS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Cora, Louisiana, your question or thought, Cora?
CORA, LOUISIANA (via telephone): Yes, I`m calling because I heard the statement made about the women who were raped and how they could control whether they got pregnant. And then this man went onto say that a doctor told him that. And I want to know what doctor was certified to practice spewing that amount of ignorance?
Because you have no control over the vaginal canal when a sperm is ejected into the canal and the egg is coming down. There`s no control. Nothing you can do. Nothing. Nothing.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Cora, Louisiana, you expressed it in a very eloquent fashion. This caller, Laura Dunn, you survived sexual assault on college campus. She has said it in a way that essentially we`ve all been dancing around. But she said it -- Laura.
LAURA DUNN, RAPE VICTIM: Yes. It`s a very offensive comment. It`s nothing short of ignorant. I think a lot of people recognize that. But I am hoping that two good things come from this. First, that we can have a better dialogue about what does constitute rape, all the victims we do need to be acknowledging.
And secondly, I think we need to have better political discussions. And we need to really (inaudible) against women`s seriously that we have. The Violence against Women Act before Congress is being stalled. We need to come together as a nation. We need to have competent political leaders and we need to take this issue seriously. We need to stop the violence recognize all victims of rape.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Heidi Damon, you fought off the attacker who choked you until you passed out ripping off your clothes. But you are a survivor and you say you triumphed. How are you going to triumph over these words spoken by this Congressman?
HEIDI DAMON, ASSAULT VICTIM: Well, you know, as someone said, you can`t argue with ignorance or stupidity and it`s very true. And there are enough people in the world that realize, obviously this has gone viral, that realize how dumb and irresponsible he was by stating something that he did.
I think he should resign. And I think that this is just more fuel for, you know, us your panel guests to get the word out there and educate people more; and more or less ignore someone like this and just try to get out there more and explain to people that I don`t care where you are, what you`re wearing, who you are, no one should, you know, take your personal space away from you and legitimate and violent act of any type do not belong together.
So whether it`s legitimate rape, legitimate attack, legitimate anything -- there`s no legitimacy to any attack towards another person. And someone said I would love to see what he would think if this happened to his daughter or wife or him. I bet his stance would be a lot different. And definitely think he should step down.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to thank my three heroic women -- rape survivors who spoke out tonight. By the way, Congressman Akin says he`s not resigning. He continues to pursue his quest for the U.S. Senate.
We`re going to stay on top of the story and keep you updated.
Now this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shock and sadness today over the suicide of a Hollywood director.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tony Scott jumped to his death on Sunday afternoon into the waters of the port of Los Angeles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The LAPD received a 911 call from a passerby who said they witnessed a man jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro.
TONY SCOTT, DIRECTOR: My adrenaline kicks in at 2:30 in the morning when I get up. I`m going to bolt upright with fear -- fear of failure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A friend of Tony Scott did find a suicide note in the director`s office.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Scott`s films include "Top Gun", "Beverly Hills Cop Two", "Man on Fire" and "Enemy of the State".
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Top Gun" was Scott`s biggest film success but his death leaves behind a real Hollywood mystery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A Hollywood icon jumps to his death. What is behind the stunning suicide of the man who made Tom Cruise a star? Tony Scott was an A-list director and producer whose movies grossed over $2 billion at the box office. He only worked with the biggest names in Hollywood.
Here is one of his first hits with Tom Cruise, "Top Gun".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY MCGILLIS, ACTRESS: What you do up there is dangerous.
TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: I am dangerous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you should have done was land your plane? Son, your ego is writing checks your body can`t cash.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight Tom Cruise is saying "Tony was my dear friend and I will really miss him." Tony Scott`s last movie was "Unstoppable" with Denzel Washington. He created riveting action scenes.
But yesterday his took his own life in the most dramatic way possible in the middle of the day, in front of a audience onlookers. Scott jumped from this bridge in Los Angeles. He reportedly left several suicide notes in his Toyota Prius nearby. And there are other reports that Scott was suffering from inoperable brain cancer but the coroner says it is too early to tell.
Take a look at this eerie photo just posted to Twitter. It shows Tony Scott. He`s the one in the red shorts scouting a location right next to the bridge he jumped off. You can see the bridge in the background. The photographer Scott Trimble says this photo was taken two years ago to the day that the director committed suicide.
So why did he do it? We cannot know. Obviously, we cannot tell. But we are going to ask forensic psychologist Jeff Gardere what he makes of this photo of Tony Scott at the bridge exactly two years before he jumped off that bridge?
JEFFREY GARDERE, FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: Well it could be Jane that was something that was indelible in his mind, and therefore when the time came where he felt that he could not live a very physically and emotionally rich life any longer that he went back to that place. But of course, it`s a popular bridge, and I`m sure other people have jumped off of it.
What`s really interesting Jane, is this man was a thrill seeker. He was a rock climber. He drove fast cars. And so I believe for him to take his life in such a way, in such a dramatic fashion was part of that thrill- seeking, perhaps his last statement to the world, to his family -- as hurtful it may be to the family.
But I also think that this was someone who may have been severely depressed perhaps because of allegedly having this inoperable brain cancer.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: One of Tony Scott`s movies actually starts with a suicide.
Watch this from "The Last Boy Scout" from Warner Brothers Pictures.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(EXCERPT FROM "THE LAST BOY SCOUT")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tony Scott made some of the biggest action movies of the past 30 years. His work was extremely tough. It was, for lack of a better word, macho. Was this way, Jeff, clinical psychologist, of going out in sort of a blaze of glory? Using all the techniques that he learned as this legendary directory to sort of stage something as dramatic as the work?
GARDERE: Absolutely. Look, this is a man who, of course, is extremely intelligent, very creative. He may or could have found an easier ways or less painful ways or less dramatic ways to end his life. But I really do believe -- not knowing the man, of course, but just from his actions -- that he was a man who lived a very exciting life and when that power was taken away from him his last remaining bit of power was to go out in his own way, in a way that was a statement to the world. That was also going out in a blaze of glory.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, our hearts go out to Tony Scott`s family. Our condolences, and may he rest in peace.
Time now for a "Stunning Video of the Day". We have to warn you this is tough to watch. Look at this.
A surveillance video from earlier this year shows an elderly woman crashing into a supermarket in Florida. You see it take out a row of people, including that baby stroller. An elderly man ended up getting was pinned underneath. But you can also see, amazingly, everyone survived and that includes the baby. Unbelievable video of a car -- boom -- going right in there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Today`s viral video -- whoa -- brings you the amazing skills of Tracy, the parkour dog. He`s only one of two dogs in the world that can do this new extreme sport. Whoa, look at him go.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEXI DEFOREST: I am doing the best I can. I probably just shouldn`t jump those trenches. Search and rescue, I hope to hear from you soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, a woman recuperating after an extraordinary ordeal that she taped and posted on YouTube. Lexi DeForest terrified, alone, trapped in the wilderness in the dead of night with a broken ankle. The 21-year-old college student was hiking with her boyfriend when she fell eight feet down a trench after trying to jump across it.
You can see where they were, right here in the photos from "CBS This Morning" -- unbelievable. This is Colorado we`re talking. As her boyfriend ran to get help, Lexi waited in the mountains of Wyoming -- Wyoming. Sorry -- Wyoming -- talking to her video camera to keep her mind of the pain. Check this out from YouTube.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEFOREST: The pain has started. At first I didn`t feel it. It was kind of funny. I didn`t think it was real.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: She`s a Colorado college student. Now through the almost seven-minute clip Lexi appears calm, cool, collected but she admits the fear was getting to her. Warning -- you may find this part of the YouTube video showing her ankle -- it`s a touch hard to look at.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEFOREST: I am (EXPLETIVE DELETED) scared. I am really scared but in like the calmest, coolest sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Straight out to Tanya Acker, you see people in a lot of extreme situations. Hats off to this woman -- this college student, Colorado college student, 21 years old, yet she handles this earth-shattering experience with aplomb.
TANYA ACKER, ATTORNEY: So calmly, Jane. I mean as a hiker, myself, it was really refreshing to see somebody handle that danger and trauma so calmly. I have to admit, that picture of her ankle really gave me pause. But it`s great that she videotaped it because I think she told a lot of us about how you really react and survive when you`re in that kind of emergency. You`ve really got to keep your cool. I`m glad she made the tape.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, it reminded me of so many movies I`ve seen, "Blair Witch Project". But most people everybody said it`s more like a scene out of the movie "127 Hours" which was a true story about a canyoneer who got trapped under a bolder and had to resort to very desperate measures to stay alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(EXCERPT FROM "127 HOURS")
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jeff Gardere, psychologist, life imitates art, you might say.
GARDERE: Absolutely. This is a woman who is courageous. She was able to take that anxiety, fear and pain and convert that into action, which is a very sound, psychological principle. But she was also engaging in something that we call an anxiety self-defense where she was actually using some sort of dissociation. Almost like a third person narrative as to what she was going through personally. And that is what I think really saved her life and saved her sanity. It was brilliant.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lexi even managed to crack jokes throughout this YouTube video. Check her out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEFOREST: I just broke my ankle -- second time now. Like, come on, Lexi. You would think you would be better at this by now, this walking thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
1950
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for "Pets of the Day". Oh, Cracker Jack -- oh, you`re so cute. Molly and Ginger, you`re just so cute too. It`s just a cutefest. Polyester -- now that`s a cute name and you`re even cuter than your name. Riley and dolly, oh, so handsome, so beautiful.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rihanna`s brand new confession to Oprah Winfrey about Chris Brown.
RIHANNA, SINGER: It`s amazing how lonely you can feel.
It was embarrassing, it was humiliating. I lost my best friend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rihanna and Chris Brown definitely have a relationship. I think that Rihanna will be truthful about it.
RIHANNA: It became a circus and I felt protective.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all want to hear what Rihanna has to say, especially about her ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown.
RIHANNA: He made that mistake because he needed help. I`m like, who`s going to help him?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight pop superstar Rihanna admits in a tell-all interview with Oprah her one-time boyfriend, singer Chris Brown was quote, "the love of her life". Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Do you think Chris Brown is a true love for you?
RIHANNA: Absolutely. I think he was the love of my life. He was the first love. And I see that he loved me the same way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is how Rihanna looked after she was beaten by Chris Brown in 2009.
Florida sex crimes prosecutor, Stacey Honowitz, how can she possibly say that the man who did this is the love of her life?
STACEY HONOWITZ, FLORIDA PROSECUTOR: Well, her reaction to this is no different than a lot of the victims that we see in court. And that`s why we have so many cases where there`s domestic violence and the woman, the wife, the girlfriend will come in and come to the prosecutor and say I don`t want to prosecute. I still love him. I don`t want to go forward. It was a one-time incident. I made a mistake.
So I`m not surprised by what she had to say at all.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Rihanna says Chris Brown, her attacker, is the love of her life. Final word -- Tonya Acker.
ACKER: I just hope that her legions of young fans, Jane, don`t somehow think that violence against them is ok or that being abused somehow is a sign of love. I really hope that no one walks away with that message.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And I think that she may have a distorted romantic notion.
Rihanna, you`re talented, you`re beautiful, you don`t need him.
Nancy is next. END
