Marisol Nichols: Overcoming Abuse, Fighting Human Trafficking and Choosing Her Path

I think the biggest challenge in my life came when I was in eighth grade, around 12 or 13 years old. I have talked about this in other interviews, but it was 100% the pivotal point in my life. When I was in eighth grade, I went to a party for the first time. I was not ‘cool’. I was that girl that no one wanted to sit next to at lunch. I was picked last for all the gym teams. And I hated school for very good reasons. 

I put on makeup for the first time and switched to a different junior high. Suddenly I was seen as the pretty girl in this new school. I didn't understand it and I was surprised. I was used to being the loser - being called "loser," to my face. All of a sudden, I was the pretty new girl and I didn't know what to do with that.

Some friends I grew up with are in prison. A lot of them never stopped doing drugs and ended up going down very dark paths. For whatever reason, I didn't. I found a way out of what was supposed to be my path. My ending.

A girl that I had befriended invited me to a party to show off my new look. When I arrived at the party, it was her boyfriend and five other guys but I didn't think much of it. Again, I was 12 or 13 years old. They handed me a bottle of whiskey, and I had never drunk in my life. They had me taking big swigs of whiskey because that's what they were doing. Then they handed me a bong, and again, I had never smoked pot in my life either. I inhaled the bong like they showed me and the last thing I remember is taking another drink of whiskey and blacking out.