Queen Latifah reveals in the July issue of Essence magazine that she was sexually abused when she was a child by a teenager who was taking care of her. "He violated me," she told the magazine. "I never told anybody; I just buried it as deeply as I could and kept people at an arm's distance. I never really let a person get too close to me. I could have been married years ago, but I had a commitment issue." Latifah, 39, eventually opened up to her parents, who had different reactions to the revelation, and sought therapy. "My mother felt terrible," she recalls. "She was kind of a country girl, so she wasn't up on how slick people could be. When I told my dad, he said nothing."
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Comments (1-7) of 7 Add your comment
W-H-Y would she bring this out in the public eye, especially now?
As for why she would “bring this out in the public eye”: I, for one, appreciate her willingness to talk about this. It deshames the victim/survivor and encourages others to break the silence. Often, silence leads to shame. It is courageous and inspirational for a famous person (or non-famous person) to discuss something so personal so that sexual abuse/assault can be brought into discussion and we, as a society, can take more action against it.
It’s not the first time I heard this. On the Reelz Channel show “What It Takes”, the abuse is mentioned in her bio. It’s only the first time I’ve heard Queen herself talk about it.
Who cares, it was something that happened to her when she was a child? Does that mean she has to live a miserable life for the rest of her life and not be comitted to someone else? Or worse it could made her gay! Just saying i know people who have gone through the same thing and they dont cry about it or hold a grudge, they move on and have has a happy life.
Shakespeare, the people you know are either in denial, or not being open with you. It’s not about holding a grudge. Being molested as a child is a HUGE violation of trust. It fundamentally alters who we are. She’s not having a pity party, she is being honest about how she was affected by the perpetrator.
Maybe you should do some googling on this subject before posting.
Re: “or worse, even gay”. Google on that as well.
I agree a hundred percent with Bobbi. It has nothing to do with holding a grudge, you don’t see her holding a grudge do you? She doesn’t hate all men because of it. She’s telling this to the world because she wants them to understand probably why she hasn’t been with anyone so they could stop jumping down her back about it. That’s what celebrities do. And she deserves better kudos than what you some of you are giving her. It’s really hard to come out about being molested as a child. And once you do something like that as a child it does create major trust issues maybe more so than if you were a teenager or adult. She is very brave for saying that and she might inspire other girls to do the same.
The Let Go…Let Peace Come In Foundation is a newly formed nonprofit with a mission to help heal and support adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse worldwide. We are actively seeking adult survivors who would be willing to post a childhood photo and caption, their story, or their creative expressions to our website http://www.letgoletpeacecomein.org. By uniting survivors from across the globe we can help provide a stronger and more powerful voice to those survivors who have not yet found the courage to speak out. Together we can; together we should; together we NEED to stand up and be counted. Please visit our site for more details on how you can send us your submissions.
Thank you for everything you do!
Gretchen Paules
Administrative Director
Let Go…Let Peace Come In Foundation
111 Presidential Blvd., Suite 212
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004