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January
MARILYN VAN DERBUR KEPT HER CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE A SECRET FOR DECADES. TODAY, HELPING OTHERS OVERCOME SHAME AND HEAL IS HER LIFE’S MISSION
October 25, 2019
Xandra McMahon
CPR
When Denver’s Marilyn Van Derbur was crowned Miss America in 1958, no one knew she had endured years of sexual abuse from her father.
Even she had suppressed the memories of what happened to her nightly from ages 5 to 18.
But that changed when she turned 24 and a flood of painful memories came rushing to the surface.
“Well, all of those feelings were just stuffed,” Van Derbur said. “But when you bury feelings alive and something triggers them, then they come up as if it’s happening in real