Right-wing influencer Lauren Southern accused Andrew Tate of raping her during a trip to Romania, describing the alleged assault in memoir excerpts she published Tuesday on Substack.
Southern said she traveled to Romania in 2018 to discuss a media venture with Tate and associates. After a disappointing initial meeting, she said she was unexpectedly summoned back to meet with Tate’s group, which turned into an aggressive night out.
She alleged she felt unusually intoxicated despite drinking little, blacked out at a nightclub, and woke up disoriented and vomiting as she was carried into a car. (RELATED: REPORT: Andrew Tate’s Girlfriend Bri Stern Files Sexual Assault Report After Alleged Choking Incident)
“My ultimate hope with the publication of these chapters, and more importantly with my full book, is for healing,” Southern wrote. “Even for those who have hurt me. I’ve learned well in my own life that some healing only comes from purifying fire.”
Good morning.
Time to pour gasoline on what’s left of my reputation and strike the match, all for a cause I should’ve committed to long ago: the truth.
This Is Not Real Life is a memoir about the total, unfiltered chaos behind the scenes of my time in media.
From an…
— Lauren Southern (@Lauren_Southern) July 15, 2025
Southern recounted returning to her hotel after the discouraging initial meeting, only to be summoned again by a colleague with the cryptic message: “They want to meet with you, Lauren.” Unsure who had sent it, she agreed to join Tate and his entourage later that night.
What began as a casual encounter escalated into what she described as unwanted touching, persistent pressure to accompany them to a nightclub, and a mounting sense of fear. Despite her instincts telling her to leave, she said she went along, struggling with self-doubt and social pressure.
At the club, she said she began to feel disoriented and unusually intoxicated, even though she had barely drunk anything. Members of the group openly bragged, she said, about running illegal crypto schemes and being untouchable thanks to corrupt local connections. As her friends never arrived and her awareness slipped, Southern said she blacked out, later vomiting and barely conscious as she was carried into a car.
Reflecting in her memoir, Southern admitted to being a naive 22-year-old at the time, mistaking evil for charm and believing she could avoid harm by making “smart decisions.” She wrote it took years to process what allegedly happened.
“The devil doesn’t just leap out at anyone; he whispers, urging us to step a little closer to the fence, to come see what he’s doing, to lower our defenses, have a drink, and not think too much,” she wrote. “Don’t get vulnerable with the devil if you don’t want to end up in hell.”
She claimed Tate warned her not to speak to the press as she rushed to leave, and that in the months afterward he continued chatting with her over WhatsApp, even asking to visit. Southern said her own anti-feminist beliefs and rejection of victimhood made it easy at first to dismiss what had allegedly happened.
She also criticized conservative media world’s “willful ignorance in pursuit of fame and money,” noting that Vice News reported in 2023 Tate had allegedly used the same tactics on other women in the UK back in 2015. She said the details of her account — including her hospital visit after the incident — aligned with those findings. (RELATED: Online Losers Are Preying On Your Sons)
“If this were some elaborate ploy for attention, I’d have to be clairvoyant to have predicted the rise of this man’s profile and his methods before anyone even knew who he was,” she wrote, adding, “I’ll be crucified online. I’m not looking for sympathy, and I don’t expect a victim trophy from any side. I’m publishing this simply because it’s the truth, and far too few people are telling the truth these days.”
🚨WATCH: President Trump on Andrew and Tristan Tate’s arrival in the U.S.: “I know nothing about that… we’ll check it out.” pic.twitter.com/8Hq3LcmrNk
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 27, 2025
Southern said she reported the assault to the UK authorities but was told the case could only proceed in Romania, a country she was warned suffered from deep police corruption. She later shared the details off the record with a U.S. investigation in hope of helping without exposing herself publicly.
She said she eventually decided to speak out because others were misrepresenting her story and discrediting victims. Having stayed silent for years out of fear, she said she is now willing to cooperate with official investigations, particularly those ongoing in Romania.
Romanian prosecutors announced in 2023 that Tate, along with his brother Tristan, had been formally charged with human trafficking, rape, and forming an organized criminal group.