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COMMON recently spoke out about experiencing sexual assault at the hands of a family friend when he was a child. He revealed this in his recently released memoir, “Let Love Have the Last Word.”
In tweets he explained that he opened up, because he hoped that it would give others strength to do the same and start their own healing journeys – “It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he concludes in one tweet.
The rapper, actor and activist, reveals in the memoir that it wasn’t until two years ago that the memory of being molested as a child came back to him.
According to NBC News, this was while working on a scene with actress Laura Dern for their 2018 film, The Tale, a true story about child rape .
“One day, while talking through the script with Laura, old memories surprisingly flashed in my mind,” he writes according to People. “I caught my breath and just kept looping the memories over and over, like rewinding an old VHS tape…I said ‘Laura, I think I was abused.’”
According to him, the abuse happened around the age of nine or ten during a family trip, where he had to share a bed with his Godbrother’s relative, whom he refers to as ‘Brandon’.
“At some point I felt Brandon’s hand on me,” he writes in a passage Entertainment Weekly describes as “incredibly vulnerable”. “I pushed him away. I don’t remember saying a whole lot besides ‘No, no, no.’” “He kept saying ‘It’s okay, It’s okay,’ as he pulled down my shorts and molested me. After he stopped he kept asking me to perform it on him. I kept repeating ‘No’ and pushing him away,”
Common adds that he “felt a deep and sudden shame for what happened.” Nonetheless, he has forgiven his abuser. “I want to be a person who helps break cycles of violence,” he wrote. “This is love in action and I intend to practice it.” — Sowetan
Online Reporter