Young man speaks out about sexual abuse in documentary
ROSEMONT, Pa. (WPVI) -- A young man is now talking about being sexually abused by those he trusted.
He has created a documentary in the hopes it will inspire other victims to come forward.
"The moment that I was abused for the first time, I was severed from myself," said Sasha Joseph Neulinger.
24-year-old Sasha Joseph Neulinger was sexually abused by two uncles and a cousin as a child.
But like most young victims, he told no one.
"The only way I could understand or see myself is dirty, gross, bad, unloveable," he said.
He tried to live a normal kid's life but was dying inside.
Sasha's mom watched her son become severely depressed and suicidal.
"You were trying to jump out of a moving car. You just kept threatening to kill yourself," said Jacqui Neulinger.
One of Sasha's alleged abusers was his uncle, Howard Nevison, the esteemed cantor at New York's Reform Jewish Temple Emanu-el.
In a home video provided by his father, a brief moment from hours of taped memories, Sasha says he remembers feeling trapped.
"I realized my sister was also being abused," said Sasha.
He told his parents about the abuse and learned his uncles had also abused his dad and their brother.
"If I had gotten the help that I should have had, and I realized and someone explained to me that both of my brothers were sick and could do this again, they wouldn't have been seen within miles of you ever," said Sasha's father Henry Neulinger.
Sasha's parents dropped everything to support him.
He has been developing his documentary, "Rewind to Fast Forward" from his dad's collection of videos.
"I'm not looking to point fingers and call out monsters and come at it with a need for vengeance. What I am hoping to do is really talk about how we can help children so they don't grow up angry and disconnected, and subconsciously willing to repeat the cycle," said Sasha.
Link to Sasha's video documentary "Rewind to Fast Forward":
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sashaneulinger/rewind-to-fast-forward
