Jerry Sandusky's adopted son opened up to Oprah Winfrey about his convicted pedophile father's bedtime "ritual," providing details of the alleged sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, the Associated Press reported.
Matt Sandusky, who was initially a foster child of the Sanduskys, told Oprah in an exclusive interview, which will air on OWN at 9 p.m. on Thursday night, that his overnight visits at the family's central Pennsylvania home was a very happy place to be "except for one part, bedtime." At bedtime in the Sandusky's home in State College, he said, Jerry Sandusky's "ritual began."
"The overnight visits were -- they were good. I mean, except for that one part, bedtime. Bedtime was the bad part. But any other time that we were in the home, that we were doing anything in the home with the family, it was fine and it was -- again, you would look at that family and you would say, wow. Like I wish that I had brothers and sisters that cared about me. I wish that I had a mother who cooked dinner every night for the whole family. I wish that I had all of these things. But then at bedtime, his ritual began," Matt told Winfrey in a brief clip released by the network.
Matt Sandusky will also be seen discussing the grooming, methodical control and manipulation he faced as a child, the network said. Earlier this year, he also spoke of the alleged abuse in a documentary, "Happy Valley."
At the time of the former Penn State assistant football coach's 2012 trial, Matt's audiotape of a 29-minute interview with police detectives had been obtained by NBC, where after initially narrating a different story to an investigative grand jury, he had claimed to have come forward to correct the record.
He told investigators that his father's hands had rubbed along or against his genitals, ABC News reported. Although he could not recall any penetration or oral sex, he claimed that memories were coming back to him. "So that they can really have closure and see what the truth actually is. And just to right the wrong, honestly, of going to the grand jury and lying," Matt Sandusky said two years ago. He was not called to testify, and Jerry Sandusky has not been charged with any crime in relation to his adopted son.
Matt Sandusky is one of six children adopted by Jerry Sandusky and his wife. Jerry Sandusky, once Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno's assistant and heir apparent at Penn State University, has been convicted of molesting 10 other boys. He is serving a 30 to 60-year sentence but maintains his innocence.
