Deputy Shares Eye-Opening Story Of Childhood Sex Abuse

"My defense was to pretend I was asleep every night," says Michelle Rice, 27. "Every night, pretend I was asleep. That was my only defense."

Rice speaks openly about a story many would find unspeakable, using it to motivate both victims of sexual abuse and those who can guard against it.

Growing up in Spartanburg, she was 8 years old when her mother's boyfriend began forcing himself on her at night.

"It happened every day," says Rice. "Sometimes twice a day. And sometimes my mother was there when it happened. Our house was small. I slept in the living room. I remember him doing it and wanting to scream, but seeing my mother's face lying on her bed, watching me. He said he would kill me if I told anyone. He said he would hurt my mother. I felt like it was my job to hold things together."

When she was 12, she learned she was eight months pregnant.

"I didn't know what was happening. I just thought I was putting on weight. I wore big clothes. No one ever sat me down and explained the changes in my body and what was happening."

She says even though she wasn't aware of her pregnancy earlier on, her abuser was.

"I remember him rubbing my stomach at night, like it was a relationship," says Rice. "And when it came time to have the baby, he drove me to the hospital. There was no time for an epidural or anything like that. It was so painful that I slipped in and out of consiousness. And then I woke up and they're putting this baby in my arms -- and I had no idea where it came from."

"I'll never forget my mother saying, 'You're a woman now. No crying. No tears. You're a woman now," says Rice. "I just can't understand why my mother never helped me, but I have forgiven her."

Rice says her mother even sat on her abuser's side of the courtroom when he went to trial. In 1996, he was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Rice put her baby up for adoption and she herself went to a foster home. She focused on her education and finished near the top of her class at Spartanburg High School. She then went on to University of South Carolina and earned a degree in Criminal Justice.

Rice is now a deputy with the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office. She is also completing her master's degree in Public Administration at Phoenix Online. She uses her horrific story of abuse to show troubled children that they can have a bright future.

"It doesn't have to be the beginning of the end," says Rice. "It can be a new beginning. I will get married, I will have kids, I will have the white picket fence like everyone else."

She also uses her story to show those who work with children that signs of abuse can often go unnoticed.

"I remember social workers and police officers coming by our house for different reasons, and none of them spoke to us about what was going on with (her mother's boyfriend) and me," says Rice. "No one realized there was a problem."

On Friday, Rice was one of the speakers at "A Brighter Future", a conference put together by USC Upstate's College of Arts & Sciences and sponsored by Greenville Hospital System. About 300 people attended, including law enforcement officers, prosecutors, counselors, child advocacy workers and educators.

"The way to end child abuse is through advocacy and education," said Dr. Jennifer Parker, Assistant Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.

To see all of Rice's powerful interview, click on the video.