Who Abused Duranice Pace?

Duranice Pace of the acclaimed sibling gospel group, the Pace Sisters, was sexually abused by a family member at age 12.

The seven religious sisters are also a close-knit family — but even the closest sisters have secrets.

According to Duranice Pace, the abuse occurred when she was 12, the elder Pace sister says, while she was staying with her grandmother to help her after she suffered a stroke.

“She asked me to take my uncle his food, his plate. I didn’t know he was drunk,” Duranice tells Iyanla and the rest of the Pace sisters. ”

“He grabbed me. It was scary. He just… swung me on the bed. He tore my clothes off. All I know is I felt the worst pain in my life.”

Duranice says her grandmother heard her screams and came upstairs.

“My grandmamma came with a broom. She said, ‘Get off of her!’ and she hit him sore with that broom until it broke,” Duranice recalls.

The incident took a severe emotional and physical toll on Duranice. “It scared me,” she says. “I bled for three months and the family doctor said, ‘She’s going to always have problems.’”

“Let me tell you something: Secrets kill,” Iyanla tells the Pace sisters. “They kill your spirit, they kill your joy, they eat away at you.”