Today, Common launched his new memoir titled Let Love Have The Last Word. He describes as him telling his own life experiences so that hopefully other people can open up about their own. You can buy it here.
In it, he reveals a harrowing experience from when he was 9-years-old. “I was excited for a road trip I was about to take with my family. My mother; my godmother, Barbara; her son and my godbrother Skeet; and his relative, who I’ll call Brandon” he writes. When they all arrived in Cleveland at his aunt’s home, he had to share a bed with Brandon.
“At some point, I felt Brandon’s hand on me. 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. I felt a deep and sudden shame for what happened.”
Common also writes “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… I want to be a person who helps break cycles of violence,” he wrote. “This is love in action and I intend to practice it.”
Huge props to Common for revealing this and going through the steps to healing.