I Survived Evil is not just the title of the new Investigation Discovery series that Charisma Carpenter will be hosting — it’s also a declaration the actress herself can make.

Back in 1991, years before she traded barbs with Buffy, Carpenter and two friends were swimming at Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego when they were violently attacked by Henry Hubbard Jr., then a 29-year-old police officer.

During the encounter, Hubbard, brandishing a gun, ordered Carpenter to tie up her male friends. But Carpenter refused, affording her companions opportunity to jump and overpower Hubbard, ultimately leading to his capture and arrest — even as the young men suffered non-fatal bullet wounds along the way.

Carpenter meanwhile held onto the police-issue flashlight Hubbard used, to help seal his conviction for that assault which, when combined with a string of others, earned him a 56-year prison sentence.

Though Carpenter has never openly discussed the harrowing incident, “Now I’m in a place where I could. I have enough distance — and a lot of therapy — between then and what happened and now,” she tells TVLine. “It’s not as fresh. It’s not as painful.”

Investigation Discovery’s I Survived Evil, which starts production later this summer with an eye on a 2013 bow, will chronicle similar true stories of ordinary people who successfully warded off attackers. That Carpenter, given her own such scare, was approached to host the series was pure coincidence. “I don’t think [the producers] knew,” she ventures. “And when I told them, they were like, ‘This makes perfect sense. We want you to be even more a part of the process.’”

Read the rest of the interview here.

INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY SIGNS CHARISMA CARPENTER AS HOST OF ALL-NEW SERIES “I SURVIVED EVIL” (WT)

(Beverly Hills, CA) – Charisma Carpenter, best known for her role as Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, has signed a deal to host Investigation Discovery’s new series, I SURVIVED EVIL (wt). The show will feature dramatically compelling and emotional stories of victims who fought back against their attackers and, against amazing odds, survived. The 10-episode first season of I SURVIVED EVIL is slated to begin filming in August 2012.

Carpenter is the survivor of a real-life incident that she endured more than 20 years ago. The actress and two friends were swimming at San Diego’s Torrey Pines State Beach in 1991 when they were violently attacked by an armed, rogue police officer. Carpenter fought for her survival after being held at gunpoint, but her two friends were both shot by the attacker and seriously wounded. The police officer was sentenced to 56 years in prison for the attacks in addition to a series of rapes and robberies.

“The fact that Charisma has personally lived through the tragic nightmare of being attacked – and thankfully, is willing to share her ordeal with our viewers – makes her the perfect host for I SURVIVED EVIL,” said Henry Schleiff, president and general manager of Investigation Discovery. “In addition to being a face that her loyal Buffy fans will recognize, Charisma adds an important layer of depth and perspective to this series that only a survivor truly could.”

I SURVIVED EVIL (wt) is produced by Cineflix (I Survived) Inc. for Investigation Discovery. For Cineflix, Nick Godwin and Simon Lloyd are executive producers. For Investigation Discovery, Pamela Deutsch is executive producer, Sara Kozak is senior vice president of production and Henry Schleiff is president and general manager.

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