Trista Matascastillo (TM) and Hector Matascastillo (HM)
TM: I used to say when I put my uniform on I was in my superwoman suit. Nothing could happen, nothing could hurt me. And yet, it did. Someone who I had worked with, I had served with, someone that I had called my brother—ultimately became my perpetrator.
HM: How did you deal with it after it happened?
TM: I kinda fell apart. I just remember feeling the complete shock. The betrayal. Even though I thought I was hiding it from everyone. After just receiving the news that I was pregnant, I was thinking, “I’ll just end it. I’m just gonna go home and kill myself anyway, it doesn’t matter.”
Once I decided, I’m just gonna keep doing what I’ve done and survive this, I never told anyone, cuz I thought, They’re not gonna believe me. Nobody ever asked me and I assumed that was my license to keep it all a secret.
HM: Were you worried about telling me about your assault?
TM: You can imagine how afraid I was, how you were going to react. Would you believe me? Or would you suddenly see me as weak? Or would you suddenly not trust me somehow? By the time I told you, it had been six years and I hadn’t told anyone.
HM: After finding out that you were assaulted and that Hunter is the product of the assault I remember questions and a lot of emotions and a lot of anger, and needing to somehow rectify things.
TM: That traumatic event happened to me. It also didn’t define who I am today. But there are times it clouds and enters into our relationship. Do you wish that I hadn’t told you?
HM: No. Knowing the choices that you had to make to me validates your strength, and you are still a miracle.
TM: The support that you’ve given me it’s unbelievable. I know that if I were to fall you’d also catch me. It’s meant everything. And I know that we’re in this together.
In 1998, Trista Matascastillo was in the Navy, when she was sexually assaulted by someone she had served with.