Common is leaving it all on the table in his brand-new Let Love Have the Last Word memoir, which was released Tuesday (May 7). One of the shocking revelations discovered by early readers found the Chicago native painfully reflecting on a time when he was molested at just 9 years old.
The “Glory” rapper first realized he may have been sexually abused a couple of years ago when gearing up for his role in The Tale alongside actress Laura Dern. “One day, while talking through the script with Laura, old memories surprisingly flashed in my mind,” he begins. “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.'”
Common recalls a family road trip to Cleveland where the nightly sleeping arrangements had him in the same bed as someone he leaves under the alias of Brandon. “I was excited for a road trip I was about to take with my family. My mother; my godmother, Barbara; her son and my godbrother Skeet; and his relative, who I’ll call Brandon,” he explains.
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The 47-year-old admits he previously felt ashamed at what had taken place. “At some point I felt Brandon’s hand on me. 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. I felt a deep and sudden shame for what happened,” Common writes.
The Grammy-winning artist buried the memories for much of his life but says he is working through the healing process with his therapist now. “This whole book is me telling different things that I’ve experienced in life,” he opened up to TMZ about the incident once word was out on Tuesday. “Hopefully, people can open up about what they may have experienced in life. I’m telling what I feel and ways that I’ve dealt with it, and I want people to know that it’s a safe place to talk about things you go through.”
Find Common’s memoir here.