Common Reveals He Was Molested as a Child in New Book

Chicago MC Common is opening up like never before in new book Let Love Have the Last Word. The new work will examine his own personal journey with love and share the knowledge he’s gained from years of therapy.

In the new memoir, the Oscar-winner shares that while work-shopping a scene with fellow actor Laura Dern, the memory of him being molested as a child suddenly came flooding back.

“One day, while talking through the script with Laura, old memories surprisingly flashed in my mind,” he writes. “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.’”

The 47-year-old went on to describe the experience, saying it happened during a family road trip.

“I was excited for a road trip I was about to take with my family. My mother; my godmother, Barbara; her son and my god-brother Skeet; and his relative, who I’ll call Brandon…”

After arriving at his aunt’s house, he was made to share a bed with Brandon.

“At some point I felt Brandon’s hand on me,” he writes. “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,” the rapper writes. “I felt a deep and sudden shame for what happened.”

The wordsmith truly believes he’s suppressed that memory for much of his life, adding, “I just pushed the whole thing out of my head. Maybe it’s a matter of survival—Even now, two years after that flash resurgence of memories, as I’m writing, I’m still working through all of this in myself and with my therapist.”

Let Love Have The Last Word is available now.