Arriving in New York City from Michigan girl was full of challenges for Madonna, including a violent encounter.
In a revealing essay in November's Harper's Bazaar, the singer, 55, opens up about a harrowing experience she went through when, as a 20-year-old, she was struggling to make it in New York City: She was raped at knifepoint, People magazine reports.
"New York wasn't everything I thought it would be," the mother of four writes. "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. I don't know why; I had nothing of value after they took my radio the first time."
Madonna did not elaborate on the attack, which she previously discussed in a 1995 interview and which was chronicled in a 2007 biography, according to the Hollywood Reporter. But she did share the highs and lows she experienced while trying to strike it big in New York.
