Dakota Johnson launches podcast to share stories of sexual assault survivors

American actor Dakota Johnson has launched a new podcast, aiming to help and inspire millions of women to speak up.

About a year ago, the actor shared her phone number with the audience at the Global Citizen Festival. She posted the same number on Instagram, encouraging women to call and share their stories of abuse, assault, and trauma.

Now, she has turned those stories into a podcast called 'The Left Ear'. The podcast allows survivors to share their stories in a mostly unedited form. The first episode of the podcast is available now and will air every Monday beginning on October 7.

Johnson shared the news on Instagram, along with a lengthy message for her followers.

"One year ago I asked women and girls around the world to call me and leave a voicemail telling their stories of sexual violence, harassment, and gender-based inequalities. I didn't want to speak on their behalf, I wanted to listen to them," she wrote explaining her new venture, which she also discussed and previewed at the Global Citizen Festival over the weekend.

Johnson shared that the podcast will include the voicemails women had left for her.

"To protect anonymity the voices have been slightly pitched, and any identifiers have been removed. Other than that, they have not been edited. These are real stories from real people around the world," she noted.

The star added, "Listening to these stories can feel very intense. So please take care of yourself if choose to listen. And I hope you do choose to listen because listening is the most important thing you can do for someone".

As for the title of the podcast, the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' actor wrote the left is "the ear closest to your heart. And by listening with your heart, you can save someone even just a little bit."

Nearly a year ago, the 'Peanut Butter Falcon' actor encouraged females facing violence and sexual harassment to share their stories with her.

"I don't want to speak for you. I want to listen to you. This is my phone number. Tell me your story in my voicemail, and I will listen," she wrote in an Instagram post in October 2018.

On the work front, Johnson will be next seen in the upcoming horror film 'Wounds', which is set to be released on October 18 on Hulu in the US.