Bobby Brown is opening up about being molested by a priest in Boston when he was a child and how it affected his journey into adulthood.
Speaking to People about his new A&E documentary Biography: Bobby Brown, the 53-year-old R&B superstar explained that the sexual abuse began after he was placed in temporary custody by social services following the arrest of his mother.
In the series, Brown reveals, “I was sent to a temporary custody by social services which was supposed to be a religious place but it wasn’t a very nice place to be for a child. One of the priests tried to molest me. He tried to touch my private parts … At that time, I was a young boy. I didn’t know what sexual boundaries were. I just knew I didn’t like being touched. Some things are hard to forget.”
Brown told the magazine that the encounter — before he fought back and fled the building — “really, really bothered me as a child, and as a grown adult.” He noted, “I think it was part of the reason I did things, other things, drugs, alcohol, why I abused myself.”
Brown admits that he spent years burying painful memories of his rough life growing up in Boston, and he coped by taking drugs, consuming alcohol and immersing himself in his music.
“I had tucked it down so deep into my soul,” he said, “that I didn’t think that I would talk about it again.”
The music icon, who has been free of narcotics for 20 years, is now in a place where he can talk about some of the painful memories from his childhood. He maintains that doing so has helped him “get through a lot of other things that had been bothering me, especially that.”
A&E will premiere two separate docuseries on the multiplatinum-selling Grammy Award winner.
As reported previously by theGrio, Biography: Bobby Brown will cover Brown’s humble upbringing in the projects of Roxbury, Massachusetts, his first taste of fame with the legendary group New Edition, and his stratospheric solo success. It will also explore his tumultuous downfall, addiction struggles, the deaths of his first wife, Whitney Houston, and children Bobbi Kristina and Bobby Jr., as well as his redemptive rebirth and family life.
The first episode of Biography: Bobby Brown will premiere on A&E Monday, May 30, and the second episode on Tuesday, May 31, both at 8 p.m. EST. Directly following Episode Two, Bobby Brown: Every Little Step will premiere at 10 p.m. and continue with new episodes on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. EST, starting June 7.
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