Sarah Hyland is speaking out about her abusive ex-boyfriend Matt Prokop. During an interview with Meredith Vieira, who was also a victim of abuse during her 20s, the Modern Family star shared how she’s overcoming her “adversity.”
“There are two quotes that I want to say,” Hyland, 23, said on Vieira’s daytime talk show without directly referencing her former boyfriend of five years. “One is a Dylan Thomas poem: ‘Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light,’ which is one of my favorite poems. It just strikes a chord in me; and also Robert Frost: ‘The only way out is through.'”
Hyland added: “People have to go through things in order to become the person they are today, and that’s that.”
As previously reported by Us Weekly, the actress filed for a restraining order against Prokop after claiming she feared for her life following a series of abusive incidents, including when Propkop allegedly choked her with “a grip so tight that [she] could not breath or speak.” On Oct. 6, the star was granted a three-year restraining order against the actor, who must now stay 100 yards from her, her house, and her dog, as well as not go near her workplace, not own a gun, and not attack or threaten her dog in any way.
Hyland first met Prokop while auditioning for High School Musical 3: Senior Year in 2008. They later starred together in Disney Channel’s original movie Geek Charming in 2011.
