Alice Munro’s daughter says her mother remained silent when her stepfather sexually abused her

The youngest daughter of acclaimed author Alice Munro has written a first-person essay in The Toronto Star newspaper describing the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather and her mother’s decision to side with her child rather than support her.

In the article published on Sunday, Andrea Robin Skinner describes how the Nobel Prize-winning short story writer held on to her marriage to her second husband, Gerald Fremlin, even after learning of the abuse.

In the Star story, Skinner says Fremlin climbed into her bed in 1976, when she was nine years old, and began having sexual contact.

She says Fremlin continued to expose himself to her and make sexual advances until he lost interest when she became a teenager.

Skinner reported the incident to police in 2005 and Fremlin eventually pleaded guilty to sexual assault. She says the incident was an open secret in the Munro family for years and she eventually became estranged from her mother, who Skinner says sided with her husband and viewed the abuse as a violation of herself.

Skinner writes in the Star that she and her siblings wanted to give Canadians a more complete picture of their mother, who was celebrated as a Canadian literary icon long before her death in May.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2024.

The Canadian Press