For Harper Bazaar’s latest issue—the Daring Issue—cover girl and prolific pop legend Madonna has contributed a wrenching piece that candidly waxes and wanes through four decades of her phenomenal and harrowing life. Framing her piece in jumps of ten years, Madonna’s biggest, most daring reveal is her mention of repeat abuse while she was making it as a 20-something in New York City. She writes, “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.”
“At 35, I was divorced and looking for love in all the wrong places. I decided that I needed to be more than a girl with gold teeth and gangster boyfriends.”
“When I was 45, I was married again, with two children and living in England. I consider moving to a foreign country to be a very daring act. It wasn’t easy for me.”
“Ten years later, here I am, divorced and living in New York. I have been blessed with four amazing children. I try to teach them to think outside the box. To be daring.”
Read Madonna’s fascinating article in full here.
