N.J. first lady says man sexually assaulted her in college

New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy tells Women's March attendees that she was sexually assaulted as a college sophomore. (BOBBY BANK/WIREIMAGE)

Tammy Murphy, the wife of New Jersey's new Gov. Phil Murphy, revealed her rarely-told harrowing brush with sexual assault as a college student Saturday during the Women's March.

The University of Virginia graduate told a sea of women gathered in Morristown she was a sophomore when a man attacked her on a darkened path once she strayed from two groups of friends.

"I had a choice of taking a longer path that was well lit or a shorter, brick walkway that was slightly in the shadows," said Murphy, whose husband was sworn into the state’s highest seat Tuesday. "I chose the short distance."

The only hint of the horror to come was when she noticed the light dimming on her path, prompting her to look toward the sudden darkness. That’s when her assailant grabbed her and dragged her into the bushes.

“I was thrown on my back. I had a man on top of me. He pulled my shirt up, pulled my skirt up. I started screaming,” the 52-year-old First Lady told the hushed crowd.

As Murphy fought off her attacker, she said she could see a party through the window of an apartment about six feet to her left. But no one inside heard her “screaming bloody murder.”

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy attend the Women's March in Morristown. (BOBBY BANK/WIREIMAGE)

She said her wails at least made her attacker nervous.

He tried stopping her desperate screams for help by gagging her with a crabapple he found in the dirt nearby.

“When he tried to put that in my mouth, I bit him as hard as I could,” Murphy said, prompting her captive audience to erupt with cheers.

She used that moment to flee for safety.

Murphy, her clothes tousled, ran into a fraternity in the thick of a college party to find help.

“This was in the middle of a party and I barely had any clothes on,” Murphy said. “To their credit, the boys in the fraternity house called the police.”

Murphy, who graduated from the Charlottesville school in 1987, said her attacker never faced justice for assaulting her. She blamed the “attitudes of the time.”

It would be several more years before he was jailed for an unrelated crime.

Before Saturday, Murphy said only a handful of people knew about the assault. She decided to speak up to encourage more women to come forward with their terrifying encounters, which has been a nearly daily occurrence since the #MeToo movement went viral in October.

“I tell this today, not for me, but really for all of you. Surely among us is a woman who has been silent about her own story. I know the feeling of shame and helplessness,” Murphy added.

The Democratic governor, Murphy’s husband of more than 20 years, introduced the First Lady during a round of speeches marking the first anniversary of the Women's March. More than 440,000 women swarmed Washington D.C. to protest President Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

- ny news