After CNN broke Sen. Al Franken groping story, Cincinnati-area accuser spent day hiding in bed

Stephanie Kemplin asked a friend to pick up her 9-year-old daughter from school on Thursday because media vans were swarming her neighborhood. 

For most of the day, she didn't leave her bed. She stayed under the covers and didn't go outside to get her mail until 10 p.m.

"Someone even called my priest," she said, referring to the media storm she suddenly found herself in the middle of.

"It sounds stupid, but I was not prepared for this."

Kemplin is one of at least six women to make allegations that Sen. Al Franken inappropriately touched them.

For Kemplin, the incident happened in 2003 while she was stationed in Kuwait. Franken was visiting troops as part of a USO tour.

A lifelong "Saturday Night Live" fan, Kemplin got in line for a photo and said Franken touched her breast for five to 10 seconds. 

More:Local veteran tells CNN Sen. Al Franken groped her

She tried to forget it – she didn't even realize she got an autograph from Franken until this week.

Then, she saw the headline for a story written by sports commentator Leeann Tweeden.

At first, she didn't even read the full story. Like a movie reel in her head, the memories came flashing back before she had time.

Memories of Franken smelling like liquor. Memories of an unrelated sexual assault involving a fellow soldier while overseas. 

Kemplin was at home sitting on the couch when she felt the floor drop out from under her.

"Me, too," she said out loud. 

No one else was around.

Her first instinct when a friend suggested she tell the media was "that's stupid." Instead, she found Tweeden on Facebook and wrote her a message. 

At the time, no one else had come forward publicly with accusations against Franken.

"I wanted her to feel validation," Kemplin told The Enquirer. "The same person that made you uncomfortable made me uncomfortable."

She's not asking for Franken to resign. She doesn't feel like that's her place.

The Army veteran, who grew up in St. Bernard before moving to Loveland and then Maineville, decided to speak publicly because of her daughter. 

Kemplin has been teaching her the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching. She's been telling her to speak out if she sees something.

Then she realized she couldn't ask her daughter to do something she wasn't doing herself.

She spoke to her priest, her mother and a therapist at the VA.

On Monday, she spoke to a reporter at CNN about what she said Franken did to her.

"I did it because it was wrong," Kemplin said.