In a new article in Harper’s Bazaar, singer Madonna reveals that she was sexually assaulted after moving to New York City in the 1970s.
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 self-written cover story chronicles Madonna’s rise to fame, decade by decade daring to challenge conventionality, sometimes slipping and falling on her way to becoming the icon she is today.
As a teenager, she writes that she had a hard time making friends. People thought her “strange” and she did the opposite of what all the other girls were doing.
In her twenties, to afford rent, the number one artist posed naked in different art classes.
I was defiant. Hell-bent on surviving. On making it. But it was hard and it was lonely, and I had to dare myself every day to keep going.
In her thirties, after a divorce and a slew of bad boyfriends, she embarked on her spiritual path through Kabbalah.
By her forties, Madonna was married again with two children. And now,
Ten years later, here I am, divorced and living in New York. I have been blessed with four amazing children.
She ends the piece with a dare to push boundaries, but the real takeaway is a message as seemingly timeless as the Material Girl herself: No matter how many times you fall, always get back up.