My 18 or old ds now knows I was sexually abused by my brother when I was 12

[Springcatkin]

I never intended to tell him but he asked outright what it was brother had done and was it sexual abuse and said he would rather know than have to guess. It wasnt til a bit further on in the conversation that I mentioned it was me who was abused as I thought he had picked that up.
He is now doing lots of 'what if' about what might have happened if I hadn't had a full mental breakdown 6 years ago as a result of abuse I suffered as a child and I feel awful.
Can our relationship ever recover?

I am sorry that happened to you. I guess your son will need to process this information and may misplace his feelings of anger and loss. I hope you have some support and that he manages this information. I think you did the right thing to answer his question but I hope you are not feeling too vulnerable and unsafe - remember that you are OK now and this is OK to tell him.

I’m sure your son loves you, and it must be shocking for him hearing something so horrible happened to someone he loves. He’ll have a whole range of emotions going on right now - hopefully you both have some kind of support - but I’m sure he won’t hold it against you. My son has had to deal with a few things from my past (albeit different to yours) and we actually have a really strong relationship.