Lara Logan: I Have Post-Traumatic Stress After Assault in Egypt

60 Minutes reporter reveals she is having trouble shaking the memories of last year's sexual attack: "I want to be free of it, but I'm not"

By Josh Grossberg Jan 24, 2012 2:19 PMTags
Lara LoganJemal Countess/WireImage

Given the horrific sexual assault she survived at the hands of a mob in Cairo, Egypt, it's no surprise Lara Logan is still dealing with the aftermath.

The CBS News correspondent has revealed that she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and that memories of the incident continue to haunt her nearly a year after the Feb. 11 attack.

MORE: Lara Logan Released From Hospital in "Remarkably Good Spirits"

"People don't really know that much about [post-traumatic stress disorder]," she told the New York Daily News. "There's something called latent PTSD. It manifests itself in different ways. I want to be free of it, but I'm not."

The 40-year-old journalist said the nightmares come at unexpected times, for instance, when she's tucking her infant daughter in for bed at night.

"It doesn't go away," Logan noted. "It's not something I keep track of. It's not predictable like that. But it happens more than I'd like."

The battle-hardened war reporter was covering the celebrations in Tahrir Square the night the government of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak fell when she was surrounded by a group of men who tore her clothes off and, as she told 60 Minutes in April, for more than 25 minutes "raped me with their hands." Logan admitted she thought she was going to die a "torturous death" and was only saved by some quick-thinking, courageous women who surrounded her until soldiers could pull her to safety.

"When I'm lying there, waiting for my daughter to go to sleep, I have time to think about things. Those can be dark moments," the South African native recalled. "You ranger through, you have to. You're aware of how much you have and it's so much more than what you've lost. You have a responsibility. Life is not about dwelling on the bad."

After spending four days in the hospital and months recovering, Logan told the paper her family has been her greatest source of comfort and support, particularly her U.S. government defense contractor husband, Joe Burkett.

"He understands, he doesn't hide from it, from what happened. He knows everything, more than anyone, what they did to me," she noted.

Here's hoping she can put it all behind her one day.