Carly Simon Reveals Childhood Sexual Abuse

"It was heinous," singer says. 

"It changed my view about sex for a long time"

BY KORY GROW
Rolling Stone

Carly Simon
Michael Nagle/The NY Times/Redux

Carly Simon revealed in a new interview that she was the victim of sexual abuse as a child for years, beginning at age seven. She told People that a family friend, who was in his teens, carried on a physical relationship with her until her mother banned him from the house and sent her to a psychologist.

The singer, now 70, said that she'd told her older sisters about the molestation, but they refused to believe her. "I told them the first year that it was happening, and they thought I was just trying to be one of the bigger girls," Simon said.

When her mother barred the boy from visiting the home – Simon is unclear as to whether or not her mom was aware of the abuse – she did not know how to handle it. "I was devastated because I thought I was in a romance, which I think happens to a lot of girls," she said. "Your libido overpowers everything. You're so libidinous even at the age of nine and ten. And sometimes there's an outlet there. I bet in many more cases than we know about there is."

She said she even tried to protect the boy when she met with a child psychologist. "I wanted to keep it quiet, because I wanted to keep it going," she said.

She wrote about the incident in her memoir, Boys in the Trees, which will come out next week.

Looking back on the incident in her People interview, though, she felt disgusted. "It was heinous," she said. "It changed my view about sex for a long time."

In the same interview, Simon revealed that Warren Beatty was the subject of only one verse in her iconic "You're so Vain". She said Beatty thinks the whole song is about him; but, of course, Beatty thinks everything is about him. She said the rest of the song is about 2 other guys, but she won't name them, at least until they figure out who they are.