Queen Latifah: I Was Abused As a Kid

Queen Latifah revealed for the first time publicly she was sexually abused as a kid by a male babysitter -- and it has kept her from getting married and becoming close to any one.

"He violated me," the actress said in the latest issue of Essence magazine. "I never told anybody. I just buried it as deeply as I could and kept people at an arm's distance." 

Latifah, 39, said the abuse happened over a period of time at the hands of a teenage boy who was responsible for her care. The prolonged abuse affected her other personal relationships, she said.

"I never really let a person get too close to me. I could have been married years ago, but I had a commitment issue," she said

The Grammy-Award winning singer who has a new album dropping in July said she finally found the courage to tell her parents when she was 22-years old after the death of her brother.

"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. He's a man of action."

Latifah said she went through therapy to deal with the abuse, which she has now come to terms with.

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