Axl Rose, Author Dineshraj Goomany, Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgoomany/7334557068/ (CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic)
WARNING: Graphic Images
What do Axl Rose, Sinead O’Connor, Prince, and Madonna have in common? As their fans know, these acclaimed artists have all experienced abuse of one kind or another.
Axl Rose
“I feel that child abuse and sexual abuse…is kind of the key to why there are so many problems in the world today. The more books I read on it, and the more work I do on trying to overcome the problems that I had in my childhood that I accepted…I knew it was crazy, but I accepted it as normal behavior for my life, and I realize now that it wasn’t normal behavior, and it’s caused me to act in many ways because it’s what I was trained, it’s what I was taught, it’s what I saw. My formative years were very ugly.”
-Axl Rose [1]
William Bruce Rose, Jr. a/k/a Axl Rose – frontman for the band Guns N’ Roses – had a troubled childhood [2][3]. Sexually abused at the age of two by his biological father, Rose was later physically abused by his stepfather.
Understandably, Rose developed difficulties with authority, becoming a delinquent in his teens. He was often self-destructive, intentionally overdosing on painkillers in 1986. His personal relationships have been tumultuous.
Musically, Rose sometimes exercised suffocating control over the bands with whom he sang. For a time abandoning his career, he spent years in near isolation.
Despite all this, Rose was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Guns N’ Roses have sold more than 90 million albums worldwide.
Sinead O’Connor
“Whenever she beats me, which is daily, she makes me take my clothes off. I have to lie on the floor. I have to open my arms and legs. I have to let her attack my abdomen. She wants to burst my womb. She wants to stop me from being a female.”
-Sinead O’Connor, speaking of her mother [4A]
Sinead O’Connor n/k/a Magda Davitt suffered years of physical and sexual abuse by her mother [4B]. She was beaten, locked in her room, deprived of food and clothes.
O’Connor has characterized her mother either as a sadist and pedophile or demon possessed. “She used to make me say over and over ‘I am nothing. I am nothing’ or else she’d beat me”, O’Connor says of her mother. When confronted, her mother denied the abuse, further fueling O’Connor’s anger.
The Grammy award winning singer, also, acknowledged on the Dr. Phil Show that she was raped by several strangers between the ages of 3 and 12, eventually adopting a masculine look because “it was dangerous to be pretty”.
O’Connor attempted suicide 8 times in a single year, following a hysterectomy.
“As artists I believe our function is to express the feelings of the human race — to always speak the truth and never keep it hidden even though we are operating in a world which does not like the sound of the truth.”
-Sinead O’Connor, Letter to the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences [5]
When O’Connor tore apart a photo of the pope during an appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1992, the backlash was brutal. But the gesture was meant as a protest against the Catholic Church sex scandal. A photo of the pope had, also, stood beside her abusive mother’s bed.
Sinead O’Connor finds release from pain through her music. O’Connor has generated 10 albums, but believes that her strength is in performing live. She uses music to tell her story, as in the song “Troy”.
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[1] Revolver, “20 Great Axl Rose Quotes: Guns N’ Roses Singer on Jail, Dancing, Therapy, More” by Kelsy Chapstick, 2/6/19, https://www.revolvermag.com/music/20-great-axl-rose-quotes-guns-n-roses-singer-jail-dancing-therapy-more.
[2] The Guardian, “Reclusive rocker breaks his silence” by Luke Bainbridge, 10/25/08, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/oct/26/gunsnroses-popandrock1.
[3] Wikipedia, “Axl Rose”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axl_Rose.
[4A and 4B] iHeart Radio, “Sinead O’Connor Says She Was Abused by Mother” by John Kennedy, 9/12/17, https://www.iheartradio.ca/news/sinead-o-connor-says-she-was-abused-by-mother-1.3284012.
[5] Refinery 29, “What She Hasn’t Got: An Apology for Sinead O’Connor” by Tara Murtha, 9/16/18, https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/09/210003/sinead-o-connor-legacy-catholic-church-me-too.
This series will conclude next week.
Sixteen missing children were this week rescued by the US Marshals Service in Philadelphia. At least four were victims of child sex trafficking.
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ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse 
Quite an interesting post Anna. I had no idea that these pop and rock stars had gone through the horrible abuse they suffered. Child abuse, children raised by sadistic and pedophile parents is an epidemic that cannot be controlled with a vaccine but it must have a multi-effort approach to ending it. All the best Anna,
FBC
So true, Francisco. Wishing you all good things, A.
Likewise Anna, all the best,
FBC
Powerful. I bet many of us can unfortunately relate to some of this. Maybe he’s right. Thanks!
I am glad you liked the post, Brian. Thank you for stopping by.
Child abuse is one of the most terrible crime, it can change the the life completely. All the better those children can be successful later on.
So right, Marie. ❤
His bio father, then his step, may say something about his mother’s poor choices – she was probably abused too.
Neglect, mistreatment and abuse of children is the foundational common factor in most of the mental distress in adult survivors that I deal with in my psychotherapy practice.
That we cannot care for children is beyond tragic.
Sobering testimonies from celebrities…
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