AceShowbiz - Sheryl Lee Ralph opened up about her past hurtful experience. The "Abbott Elementary" star revealed that she was sexually assaulted by a "famous TV judge" years ago while she was promoting a show at a network event.

During her appearance on "Way Up with Angela Yee" podcast on Monday, March 20, she shared, "I'm at a very public place. I was suited. I had my suit on. I was handling my business for the television show I was on at that time. He and I were on the same network."

Sheryl further recalled, "This man walked in, grabbed me by the back of my neck, turned me around and rammed his nasty-a** tongue down my throat. And everybody at the network saw it."

The "Dreamgirls" star claimed that she tried to report the incident to police. She said that she called then-mayor of New Orleans Marc Morial, who allegedly asked her, "You want me to send the police there right now? 'Cause we will fix this, you know what!"

However, Sheryl shared that network executives didn't want the incident to become public. "Somebody on the network tapped me on the shoulder saying, 'Please don't,' " she revealed. "They did not want any bad press around their show, and did not care what had just happened to me."

While Sheryl didn't disclose the identity of her assaulter, the Emmy-winning actress noted that it wasn't Judge Greg Mathis. "I love him. He's a great man," Sheryl, who was starring on "Moesha" at the time, said about Greg. "Not him at all. He's a great man. This was another one."

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only time she experienced sexual assault at work environment. Sheryl revealed that a promoter once appropriately put his hand on her leg. Detailing the incident, she recounted, "My skirt is at my knees. I have on a sweater blouse. It's horrible."

"It's like I can think about these things and I'll tell you, it was like the third time something like this had happened to me, and I thought to myself, 'What did I do to deserve that? What made this man think that he could just come over and put his hands on my body, in front of [everyone]' - he didn't know me," she continued.

The actress later encouraged women to speak up. "Speak up, tell your truth, do not carry the burden of the pain," she said, before adding, "especially if you feel like it's something you can't work through."