TERI HATCHER - HATCHER WENT PUBLIC ABOUT ABUSE AFTER MYSTERY HEARTBREAK

TERI HATCHER decided to go public about her child sex abuse torment after a mystery man broke her heart. The DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES actress recently admitted she broke down on the set of the TV drama and was comforted by her co-star MARCIA CROSS. Although Hatcher has refused to name the man who jilted her, the beauty has recently been romantically linked to GEORGE CLOONEY, who was photographed partying with his ex-girlfriend KRISTA ALLEN following his Oscar triumph on Sunday (05MAR06). Hatcher hit the headlines this week (begs06MAR06) when she confessed to Vanity Fair magazine that she had been sexually abused by her former uncle RICHARD HAYES STONE and her assistance had led police to jail the paedophile. Vanity Fair journalist LESLIE BENNETTS writes in the article: "The debacle with Mystery Man made the parallels between her romantic failures and the legacy of her sexual abuse seem too obvious to ignore. "After an elaborate courtship, Hatcher opened her heart to a handsome guy who convinced her that she was entering a magical new relationship, only to have him disappear as soon as she'd let down her guard. He charmed, he conquered, he said, 'I'll call you,' and - poof - he was gone. "She is so emotionally bereft, so overwhelmed with grief, that it can hurt just trying to watch her cope with it. (The experience left her) emotionally flayed, stripped of every protective covering until she (was) nothing but exposed nerve endings." Clooney's representative STAN ROSENFELD has denied website PageSix.com's report that the man who jilted Hatcher in Clooney, saying, "I doubt Teri Hatcher is your source, and unless she is, you're full of s**t. I doubt very seriously that your source is credible. I don't ask George about his private life."