Created: 6/11/2009 7:03:40 AM 
NEW YORK (AP) -- Queen Latifah has shone a little light on a dark period of her life. She tells Essence magazine she was sexually abused as child.
She says it happened as a teenage boy who was supposed to be watching her. She says the boy "violated" her, that the abuse took place over a period of time and that she kept it under wraps until now.
She says the abuse has affected her relationships and that because of it, she has "kept people at an arm's distance." Eventually she told her parents and has gone through therapy to come to grips with what happened.
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