Queen Latifah says she was sexually abused as child

[Brian Damage]

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."

http://www.essence.com/news_entertainment/entertainment/articles/essence_july_cover_issue_queen_latifah

[Schmoopie]

Oh, I love Queen Latifah and this makes me sad to hear about her abuse. Just a terrible thing for someone to have to live with. Her dad's reaction is kind of unnerving in that he didn't say anything, but it could have been from shock. I don't know what kind of relationship she had with him.
I had some issues like this back in my early 20's, although it wasn't nearly as bad as what Queen Latifah has gone though. I told my husband about it, eventually, and he suggested that I tell my mom. However, this was years ago (early 90's) and really I don't see the point in bringing it up again. It's hard for me to talk about it anyway.

BTW, wow! She's only 39? She looks great, but I thought she was a lot older than that! The fact that I'm 41 makes me feel so old when I find out that I'm older than people like Julia Roberts and Queen Latifah! But age is just a number, right?

Andrea