Image Source: WENN
We all come from somewhere. These celebrities who survived child abuse didn’t just thrive. They went on to share their stories to help others overcome their pasts.
Image Source: WENN
Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige says that the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of a family friend permanently changed her life:
“That thing followed me all my life. The shame of thinking my molestation was my fault – it led me to believe I wasn’t worth anything.”
But Mary said her music, her manager P. Diddy and her husband Kendu helped her find the strength that she needed to find her self esteem again.
Image Source: WENN
Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah opened up to Essence magazine about her experience with sexual abuse at the hands of a teenage babysitter:
“He violated me. 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.”
Image Source: Shutterstock
Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore suffered from abuse at the hands of her father John Barrymore. Drew says she was also introduced to drugs, alcohol and sex at an early age as a child star.
Image Source: WENN
Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera has been famously estranged from her father because of the physical and emotional abuse she suffered as a young child.
Image Source: WENN
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah has been outspoken about the sexual abuse she suffered as a child. And she’s used her story and empire to help many other victims of abuse heal from their pasts.
Image Source: WENN
Marilyn Monroe
As a child of the foster care system, Marilyn Monroe suffered sexual abuse from the men in her life. Later, she became one of the first Hollywood celebrities to bring the dialogue about child abuse to the public.
Image Source: WENN
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton’s stepfather Roger Clinton struggled with alcoholism. But although Bill Clinton suffered abuse at his hands, he never spoke up about the troubles he had at home. Bill Clinton later said that it was like living two parallel lives.
Image Source: WENN
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry bravely opened up about the physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a child during an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Image Source: WENN
Rosie O’Donnell
Rosie O’Donnell has spoken out for herself and her other four siblings that were victims of emotional, physical and sexual abuse in their home.
Image Source: WENN
Missy Elliott
Just one week after revealing her diagnosis with Graves’ Disease, Missy Elliott opened up to VH1’s Behind The Music about her abuse by her 16-year-old cousin when she was only eight years old.
Image Source: WENN
Gabriel Byrne
Usual Suspects star Gabriel Byrne has come forward as one of many children abused by clergy members.
Image Source: WENN
Carlos Santana
When Carlos Santana was a young boy in Mexico, an American man visited him “almost every other day” to bring him over the border, buy him food, clothes and toys — and abuse him.
Since that experience, Carlos has dedicated time and resources to help combat child abuse around the world.
Image Source: WENN
Lee Daniels
Director Lee Daniels grew up with an abusive father. He says that one of the ways he healed from his past was by making Precious to shed light on the horrors of child abuse.
Image Source: WENN
Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Barr has always been outspoken about the abuse she says she and her siblings suffered at the hands of her parents. Her parents have just-as-publicly denied the abuse.
