Madonna has been through a lot in her three decades in the music business, but she went through something even scarier before she was famous. The Queen of Pop is a rape survivor.

In an essay for Harper's Bazaar, Madge wrote about her early years in New York City before she hit it big, and they weren't pretty.

"New York wasn't everything I thought it would be. It did not welcome me with open arms," she wrote (via Us Weekly). "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 ... 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."

As traumatic as that was, the Material Girl revealed that the accusations and backlash she faced from adopting her son and daughter, David and Mercy, was actually more hurtful than anything else she's ever endured.

"I didn't know that trying to adopt a child was going to land me in another s--- storm," she admitted. "I was accused of kidnapping, child trafficking, using my celebrity muscle to jump ahead in the line, bribing government officials, witchcraft, you name it."

Still, you think something like that would get the Material Girl down? Pssh. She continued, "I could get my head around people giving me a hard time for simulating masturbation onstage or publishing my 'Sex' book, even kissing Britney Spears at an awards show, but trying to save a child's life was not something I thought I would be punished for ... in any case, I got through it. I survived."

"Survived" is an understatement. Madonna thrived.

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