Madonna: I was raped at knifepoint, had apartment broken into three times during my first year in New York

Long before she became an internationally renowned superstar, Madonna suffered a horrific rape at knifepoint, the singer revealed for the first time.

The 55-year-old queen of pop made the bombshell revelation In a candid essay for the November issue of Harper's Bazaar.

"New York wasn't everything I thought it would be," she wrote. "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."