80s pop icon Sinitta has revealed she was sexually abused at the age of four, and now fifty years later, feels the past is finally ‘catching up with me’ as she opens up about suffering painful flashbacks.
In a brave and honest admission to The Mail on Sunday, the American-born singer said she had been abused by a family friend she called ‘aunty’ while staying at her grandad’s dilapidated and cockroach infested house in Detroit, while her mother was away working.
Sinitta, who has been left feeling ‘fragile’ and ‘in a dark place’ said: “She would get into bed with me, strip naked and make me massage her body.
“It was claustrophobic in the dark under the covers, but I was afraid to stop until she would just collapse on top of me.”
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Sinitta, 54, who describes her four-year-old self as ‘a vulnerable little girl’ says it is only with hindsight that she has come to realise the terrifying ‘games’ were in fact, grooming.
She added: “A lot of very painful flashbacks have left me feeling wobbly. Things I have never discussed have left me shaking and tearful when I recall them.”
Last year, it was revealed that Sinitta was set to release a tell-all book, and the likes of her X Factor co-star Cheryl Cole and her ex, Simon Cowell, were rumoured to be at the centre of several revelations.
Yet while researching for a series of autobiographical videos, named ‘Who Put The Sin In Sinitta?’, the bubbly singer uncovered a series of devastating truths about her own past.
After her mother, Miquel Brown’s, acting career took off, Sinitta was lifted out of poverty and no longer had to stay at her grandfather’s house, yet she says that suffering sexual abuse did not end there.
“I was sexually abused several times by a gang of school girls who said they were fascinated by my black body,” she said previously about her time at boarding school in the UK.
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Last month, Sinitta also revealed she had been abused by six senior figures in the music industry – the first one being shortly after she was recruited by then rising talent scout, Simon Cowell.
One instance, she claims, also took place at Simon’s house in the French Riviera, where she was abused by an industry figure.
After once questioning: “Is it my fault?”, Sinitta says that although she feels ‘broken’, she is now determined to help other victims of abuse.
If you are an adult survivor of any type of childhood abuse and need somebody to talk to, please visit NAPAC at www.napac.org.uk