TRIGGER WARNING: This article deals with an account of rape/sexual assault and may be triggering for survivors of abuse.
Madonna has written about being raped at knifepoint.
The incident apparently occurred when the Queen of Pop first moved to New York from her childhood home in the suburban Midwest, in the hope of pursuing her dreams of stardom.
She writes in the November issue of Harper’s Bazaar:
New York wasn’t everything I thought it would be. It did not welcome me with open arms. The first year, I was held up at gunpoint. Raped on the roof of a building I was dragged up to with a knife in my back, and had my apartment broken into three times. I don’t know why; I had nothing of value after they took my radio the first time.
The 55-year-old goes on to describe being scared of New York, but determined to make it work. She reflects on posing naked for life drawing classes, and pinning a picture of Frida Kahlo on her wall as an inspiring symbol of adversity bringing success.
Talking about rape isn’t easy. But it’s important. Given the number of sexual assaults that go unreported year after year, public discussion is essential to solidify that rape can happen to anyone and that, when it does, it is not okay.
So, it’s excellent to see women like Madonna, who have gone on to achieve so much, speak about their experiences.
Thank you, Madonna.
Please note if this post or any of the comments bring up any issues for you, or if you need to speak to someone please 1800-RESPECT or the NSW Rape Crisis Centre on 1800 424 017. It does not matter where about you live in Australia, they will take your call and, if need be, refer you to a service closer to home.
Top Comments
It's scary how many women have been sexually abused. Personally I was sexually abused as a child (by a neighbour), but fortunately not raped, which meant I still fortunately managed to lose my virginity to someone I loved and lucky for me it was very special, so I definitely do not consider myself in the same category of trauma as to someone who was raped, and also thankfully I wasn't abused by my family, so thankfully I don't have any trust issues there, however for a long time because of what I considered it being minor abuse, I was in denial that it ever affected me. It took me a long time to realise that in fact it did. I was quite scared of men and had a lot of sexual hang ups, I wanted sex and was repulsed by it at the same time. Without being too graphic unfortunately when the first time you see an aroused man is when you are a frightened child this image stays with you, to the point that the idea of having to see another man like that is scary and repellant, I used to look at men and think that whilst they seemed normal that underneath it all they were animals, though as you grow and develop hormones you end up with this strange mix of wanting desperately to have sex but being repelled by it at the same time, fortunately I was just lucky that I met a gentle caring guy who seemed to understand intuitively how to deal with me, I couldn't have told him this because actually I didn't even completely understand it myself, I didn't realise my feelings were abnormal, so luckily he seemed to realise and took his time with me, and as a result he more or less "cured" me, but there are still some remnants of the issue. The thing is whenever I try and google information about child sexual abuse the stories are usually about people who are raped, and it's very difficult to therefore know of the effects that less extreme sexual abuse has, in fact sometimes this makes me feel that maybe I shouldn't have any of these hangups because I wasn't actually raped. Obviously someone who has been raped requires more care and sympathy than myself because I have no doubt that what they went through was far worse than me, but it would be good if some of the research and websites looked at the different types of sexual abuse and the effects, it would mean that people like me could read some stories that we could relate to that might be able to help us, I wonder mamamia if it's possible for you to do an article on this?
I think its a bit sad that someone may assume she is making this up for publicity, whilst Madonna (like many stars) does some extreme things for publicity, such as acting in extremely sexually provocative ways, I have yet to hear her make up stories. Also she doesn't normally show her vulnerable side and talk about traumatic or extremely personal issues, so I'd be very surprised if she is doing this for publicity, she would have to be a pretty horrible ruthless person to make up such a story just for publicity. Also the fact that she lived in bad areas of NYC at a time when crime was particularly bad also there, and had to rough it a bit due to lack of money makes it (sadly) very likely that she did experience violent crime. Also many people do not speak out about deeply traumatic events till many years after if ever, so whether she has mentioned before now or not is not relevant to whether it is true or not.
Whether you are a fan of her or not I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt and have some sympathy for what she must have gone through.