Mary J. Blige has never shied away from telling her truth about pain and triumph.
Raised in Yonkers, NY, the singer has been open about her childhood sexual abuse in the past. And in a recent interview with the AP about Hollywood’s all-black dress protest, she expounded upon her experience.
“I’m actually happy and proud of these women,” Blige said. “It is their time, they’ve been hanging onto these things forever, for God knows how long, and now they’re speaking up and being set free.”
“I’ve had the fight since I was five years old. I haven’t had anyone approach me like that since I’ve been in the music business. But from 5 to 17, I’ve been through hell with sexual harassment. So by the time I got into the music business, it was like, ‘Don’t touch me… or I’ll kill you.'”
The nine-time-Grammy-award winner has overcome a lot of in her life, including drug, alcohol and physical abuse. She’s been an advocate for women sharing their stories as a form of liberation from the pain.
In 2017, she released her 13th studio album, Strength of a Woman, starred in the SAG-nominated film Mudbound and is receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Jan 11.