Christa B. Allen is pulling back the curtain on a painful chapter of her life.
In a TikTok shared on August 28, the 13 Going on 30 alum — who played a younger version of Jennifer Garner’s character Jenna Rink — twirled in a dress and boots while Chappell Roan’s Subway played in the background.
Over the clip, Allen wrote, “How it feels rebuilding your life after being in love with a charismatic wealthy cult leader who burned it to the ground.”
She expanded in the caption, admitting, “Let me be very clear: nobody can burn down your life unless you give them access to it. That’s the part I’ve had to own.” She added, “So I’ve sat with the hardest questions: why did I trust him? Why did I hand over my power? Why did I silence my own inner knowing?”
Allen said her ex was “selling fairytales” from “luxurious penthouses and private jets,” but “even if you spend every waking moment with someone… you still may not KNOW them.”
“That realization shattered me, but it also forced me to rebuild from the ground up. And fire is also cleansing,” she wrote.
Allen promised to share “the full story” soon, but for now, says she’s moving forward “with feet on solid ground and a heart that knows its strength.”