Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Madonna Opens Up About Being Raped And Mugged Upon Moving To NYC
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 5, 2013
Modified Oct 5, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 5, 2013
Modified Oct 5, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Madonna opened up in an intimate new essay about being raped and mugged when she first moved to NYC back in the late '70s. "New York wasn't everything I thought it would be," Madonna writes in the November 2013 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. "It did not welcome me with open arms. The first year, I was held up at gunpoint. Raped on the roof of a building I was dragged up to with a knife in my back, and had my apartment broken into three times. I don't know why; I had nothing of value after they took my radio the first time."
Madonna first moved to NYC in 1978 around the age of 20. According to Lucy O’Brien, author of the 2007 biography “Madonna: Like an Icon,” she didn't report the rape, though it left her “crying and shaking on the roof." O'Brien also posits that Madonna used the terrible experience as fuel for her ambitions: “Her anger at the attack came out afterward in a need for complete sexual control,” O’Brien said. “Sex became a mask, a way of psychologically turning the tables on her attacker...She encountered her own worst possible scenario, becoming a victim of male violence, and thereafter turned that full-tilt into her work, reversing the equation at every opportunity."
Madonna writes more about her initial impressions of NYC, how she paid rent by posing nude for art classes, and how she had to "dare" herself every day to keep going in her attempts to become a professional dancer:
The tall buildings and the massive scale of New York took my breath away. The sizzling-hot sidewalks and the noise of the traffic and the electricity of the people rushing by me on the streets was a shock to my neurotransmitters. I felt like I had plugged into another universe. I felt like a warrior plunging my way through the crowds to survive. Blood pumping through my veins, I was poised for survival. I felt alive.
But I was also scared shitless and freaked out by the smell of piss and vomit everywhere, especially in the entryway of my third-floor walk-up.
Tagged
madonna
mugging
Music
rape
roof
sex assault
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
In the algorithm age, NYC college radio DJs are still broadcasting the funky stuff
We dropped by WNYU to see what the next generation of radio DJs is up to. The answer is "Br00tal Beats To Study/Relax To."
By
James Ramsay
Published Oct 22, 2026
A Queens prop shop shutters, bunnies find a home uptown, and more openings and closings
Highlights of shifts in the city's business landscape.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Arts & Entertainment
A Queens prop shop shutters, bunnies find a home uptown, and more openings and closings
Highlights of shifts in the city's business landscape.
By
Hannah Frishberg
A new film invites you to eavesdrop on one of the greatest conversations in NYC history
By
Sonia Rao
The Knicks are NBA champions. Now they have to start dressing the part.
By
Sonia Rao
Will Barnes and Noble in the East Village spell doom for smaller shops? It's complicated.
By
Sonia Rao
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .