Known for being a powerful female rapper-turned-actress, who transformed her 'All Hail the Queen' mentality into a brand, Queen Latifah opens up about surviving sexual abuse at the hands of a male babysitter in the July issue of Essence magazine. "He violated me," the Academy award-nominated actress revealed to the publication. "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."
The Academy award-nominated actress dons a new look on the cover of the mag and discusses how the abuse made it difficult for her to settle down. "I could have been married years ago, but I had a commitment issue," Latifah admitted.
Latifah also says she kept the abuse a secret until she was 22-years-old. "I had to get it off my chest. My mother felt terrible. 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," she described.
The rapper/singer/actress goes on to describe feeling powerless and blaming herself until seeking help from her therapist. "I was a kid, and I had no power or control over the situation. I really wish I'd had the strength and the knowledge to say something sooner, because I always wondered, Did he do that to someone else? But I accept that the time for action has come and gone."
Reader Comments(1 of 1)
birdo4lyfeat 6-10-2009
i wa as a lil child to but u no queen we have to move on like u and me be succesfull im 14 now and lifes ok
wordoffaithat 6-10-2009
I was sexually assaulted by my babysitters son when i was four, and then my moms brother when i was eight, i blame her for leaving me with men anyway when i was young, but when i told her later on when i was older, all she could say was oh okay..
lindaat 6-11-2009
Hi word
I hope you've had some counseling. If you haven't, you should get some. Just keep your head held high and know you are not to blame. Don't make yourself the perpetrator because no one chose to do anything about it. You are the VICTIM! You didn't mention your age now, so I hope I'm right in assuming that you are a grown woman now. Talk about it with someone who'll listen and help you work through this. It's not easy to move on when something like this happens to you, so you have to seek help in order to heal and move on with your life.
bigfile4at 6-10-2009
When she talks about marriage I assume she is referring to a female partner. That has recently been disclosed by her. Not every gay or lesbian person is born with that preference in spite of the propaganda out there. Many victims of abuse have a change of sexual preference. Doesn't change the politics, just the need to justify. It also doesn't mean that people have to conform to other people's preferences. You don't, however, have to make up phony science to justify what doesn't need justification.
lindaat 6-11-2009
Hi bird
Please seek counseling? You're so young still. You have a lot of living and a lot of healing ahead of you. Talk to someone who is willing to listen and help you through this crisis. You're still just a baby. My heart goes out to you and I'll be praying for you. Don't take this burden with you alone into adulthood.
letgoletat 6-15-2009
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 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