By: Jon Sham

“I remember lying in bed on alert late one night as I heard an argument brewing in my parents’ bedroom, only to be shocked by the deafening sound of my mother’s jaw being crushed. I remember watching in horror as my mother’s head lay on the chopping block of our kitchen counter while my father held a large butcher’s knife to her throat, as she cried and begged to be put out of her misery.”

When “Wire” actress and activist Sonja Sohn testified at the Defending Childhood Task Force hearing on Tuesday morning, she didn’t speak long — almost exactly 10 minutes — but she managed to fill in the major parts of her life story.

Sohn’s mother was physically abused by her father and it continued to affect her and her family for years.

She brought a small cushion with her to the hearing and placed it at her lower back as she sat. She remained composed throughout her testimony, which she calmly read off of her Macbook Air.

“When you grow up in a household where domestic abuse is a regular occurrence, you see things that — though you may heal from — you will never forget,” she said.

Watch the full video from her testimony below:

http://www.vimeo.com/32918854