They Knew And Still Didn't Protect Me

There are children who speak and then there are children who are silenced after they speak.

This episode is for the ones who told the truth
and were still not protected.

In this raw and unfiltered solo episode, Jenelle Simpson opens up about what happens after trauma — when the people who were supposed to protect you choose silence, denial, or image over truth.

This conversation goes deeper than abuse.
It exposes the reality of:

Being labeled instead of protected
Having your truth ignored or dismissed
Growing up learning that your voice isn’t safe
And what it really takes to break generational cycles
This is not just a story.
This is a call to awareness, healing, and accountability.

Because legacy is not what happened to you…
It’s what you decide continues after you.

👉 Stay connected:
Website: www.jenellesimpson.com
Instagram: @therealjensimpson

Instagram: @lifesdeceitpodcast

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“What did you have to unlearn to find your voice?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There are children who speak and then there are children who are silenced after they speak. I was the second one. I was the second version of that child. And what nobody talks about is not just what happened to us, to that child, to that girl, to that boy. It's what happened after we told the truth. Welcome back to Lice Disease Podcast. I'm your host, Jen Simpson. And this season we're talking about legacy by choice. Chosen, not inherited. Hope you guys are having a beautiful morning, afternoon, night, wherever you are in the world. If you are new to this platform, please, before we continue with this episode, kindly hit the subscribe button, turn on your notification bells, give me a like, leave me a comment, and visit our Instagram page at Life to Seats Podcast. And we talked about protection. We talked about prevention. We talked about believing children. We said something powerful together. No child makes this up. So I was blessed by my uncle, and my mom ended up, although she knew it was true, she pretended like she didn't believe it, so she would save her relationship with her family because already they had a weird dynamic because of the partner that she was with. So she thought, okay, turning her back on me would save the relationship with her family.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

It's so important that you you brought this up because this is what I see. So I it goes two ways. You have the parent that believes, and then you get the parent that asks Amber how do you know they're telling the truth? And that is the worst thing you can say to a child. So that's why in the ABC's uh say Finance Tough, it is um V for vindication. We always believe our child's truth, no matter who it is. And when when parents are coming to me in therapy, uh they're like, Well, how do you know the channel the truth? It's not my job to know the challenge of the truth. It's your child's truth and you need to believe it. Period. And that really changed the dynamic of my parents because they want some type of evidence, you know, when a lot of times there isn't any. You know, no child is gonna make this up. Period. No, no child is gonna make this make this up, especially when it's early childhood. You don't even know what these things even are. You don't even know if it's right or wrong half the time, because you're like, what is this? You know, until people go to health class and they're like, Oh, that's supposed to happen then, you know, this already happened to me. Or they start being hypersexual, you know, at a young age. And and that was one of my um reels before it was like, stop calling these girls fast because a lot of times the girls are being essayed.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

But today, I want to talk about something deeper, more underneath the surface. What happens? What happens when the child tells the truth and the adults still don't protect them? I spoke up, I said what happened, I told what happened to me, and in that moment, I thought truth would save me, but instead of protection, I was met with silence, denial, shame, and then labels. I wasn't asked questions, I wasn't protected, I was called things that no child should ever have to hear or endure. And in that moment, I made a decision that so many children make without even realizing it, and especially on their own. I chose to love over truth because I wanted my mother's love so badly that I took my truth back. I retracted my story, and I never spoke about it ever again. And here's the part people don't understand about this when we retract our story, we take it back, we take it back and we say we're lying. The trauma wasn't just what happened to me or you. The trauma was who didn't protect me after, who didn't protect you after. The trauma was being told without words, it was showing up in everything that you did. I did, that my truth was inconvenient, that my pain was a disruption, that protecting the family image, the family name mattered more than protecting me. That's the kind of pain that doesn't just hurt, it rewires your mind, it rewires who you are, who you thought you would be, and who you're gonna possibly become. Because when a child speaks and is not believed, a few things can happen, a lot of things can happen, but here are a few things that can happen. One, they learn that their voice is unsafe, two, they learn that the truth has consequences, three, they learn that silence to they learn how to silence themselves just to survive, and then we wonder why. They grow up struggling with identity, they question their worth, they replay memories later on in life trying to make sense of what happened to them, trying to pick apart themselves, trying to figure out what's really wrong with me, why am I not normal? Because one thing you need to know is that the body always remembers, the body keeps the scores, what the mind was forced to forget and let go of, and let's go deeper because in our communities, especially in the Caribbean, black, and West Indies households, we don't always ask who hurt you. We tend to say you're fast, you're doing too much, you think say you're growing, are your uncle, are your auntie, a family data, your family friend. But what if that behavior was learned, it was taught? What if that behavior was introduced to us from generations? What if that behavior was a sign, was a signal? This is where legacy comes in, guys. Because legacy is not just what you inherit, legacy is what you allow to continue in the bloodline, to continue in the family, to continue to reap and take place within you. But me, as for me, I made a decision. I made a big decision. What happens to me, what happened to me, ends with me. No one else. I became the woman that I needed when I was a child. I became the voice, not just for myself, but other people and especially my children and their children that will come. I became the voice that I didn't have. I became the protection that I deserved and I need it. So now we ask different questions. We believe our children first and ask questions later. We don't silence discomfort to keep the peace and keep everybody happy and people please. We don't protect predators to protect an image, the family name, who we are, our bad habits, our traits. We protect truth. Even when it's uncomfortable, even when it breaks things, family bonds, even when it exposes people, and this is exactly why I created spaces like this. This is why I created Mere to the Mic magazine, because silence has had too much power over our lives and who we are for way too long. And enough's enough. We're done with it. And this Friday, April 17th, we're not just releasing a magazine, we're releasing voices. We are releasing voices into the atmosphere. We're releasing stories, truths, people who decided they will no longer stay quiet. No child lies about that. Believe your child, believe people, do your research. Silence is taught. So is truth. Protect the child, not the image. Ask better questions. Who hurt you? And that will change everything. Unhealed adults create unsafe spaces. Healed adults create protection. Your past is not your legacy. Your decisions are. Cycle breakers are not born. They are built. You are being built. And some of us had to build ourselves on our own. This legacy by choice, chosen, not inherited, was created by me because I knew that there was a lot of work that we had to do to create a legacy, to create a foundation, to create roots that people could really lean on, that people could use for the next generations to come. Real tools, real stories that will inspire, that will shift atmospheres, that will break chains, that will break toxic generational cycles, that will heal and give people voices. And this is what we're doing in this season right now. So please, as I said before, subscribe to this channel, turn on your notification bells, go and follow Life's Deceit Podcast on Instagram. Go and follow Mirror to the Mic Instagram page and follow my personal page, The Real Jen Simpson, because you don't want to miss all the things that will be happening that God will be working through me to be a voice to you guys and the amazing things that are gonna come out of this magazine and the features, and maybe you may be a special feature, you may be on the cover issue. Don't miss out. Go and follow. Go and follow, guys. This is this is something that we need to do in this season, and I'm doing it, I'm taking my mantle, I'm taking my power back. And this magazine is a second layer, it's the third, it's a tenth layer for me. This season is special for me, and again, this season is called Legacy by Choice, Chosen, not inherited. I'm your host, Jen Simpson, and this is Life's Deceit. And by saying this with me they didn't protect me, so I became protection, and that changes everything. You can become the protection that our children need and other people need by using your voice, by using your talents, and creating something that is a legacy, and while you're creating it, you're enjoying it at the same time. Please, guys, next week we have a very special guest, Keisha Blair, and I cannot wait to share her with you. She is a phenomenal woman who is all about holistic wealth, and you don't want to miss our conversation on holistic wealth and how holistic wealth is not just about finances, but it's about your mental health, it's about your well-being, it's about your environment, it's about the people you have in your life.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

I was the person who was climbing the corporate ladder, was hell-bent on being one of the top 10 leaders in the organization by 30. That I was on this track. Like I wrote about it in the book. I was on this fast track to becoming an executive by 30. I was handpicked by the deputy minister who's next to like the prime minister to be one of the top 10 or top 30. And I was on that track and I was hillbent. And then grief happened, and my husband died. And this was eight weeks after I had my second child.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

You were tracking your relationship with God. So please, I hope you guys continue to have a beautiful morning, afternoon, night, wherever you are in the world. Continue to pour back into yourselves and love yourselves. Until next time, I'm Jen Simpson. What you choose today becomes the legacy you pass on.