R&B star Mary J. Blige is still desperately trying to come to terms with the sexual abuse she first suffered as a five-year-old child.

The Be Without You singer has often talked publicly about her battles with drug abuse and says her private pain began in childhood.

The 36-year-old tells US publication Parade, "When I was five, sexual stuff was done to me. My mother was a single parent, a working woman. She left us with people she thought could be trusted. They hurt me."