Singer opens up about “hell” from home as a child

Sep 23, 2009 07:15 GMT  ·  By
Christina Aguilera credits childhood abuse with discovering and learning to love music
   Christina Aguilera credits childhood abuse with discovering and learning to love music

In the past, singer Christina Aguilera often hinted that she grew up in an abusive household, with her father often resorting to corporeal punishment when things didn’t go the way he wanted them to. Physical abuse, it seems, was the first thing that made her turn to music, Christina says in a new interview for a TV documentary cited by the Houston Chronicle.

Her father, a military man, was very aggressive and had a short fuse with her, her sister Rachel and her mother, the singer reveals. Because of this, she would often be a witness to fighting and screaming, not to mention the times when she would personally meet her father’s wrath and end up beaten up. As her sole refuge, she turned to music, which helped her escape the cruel reality of her life – and so Christina, the artist, was born.

“I witnessed a lot of unpleasant things – a lot of pushing and shoving and fighting and quarrelling. Growing up I did not feel safe. Feeling powerless is the worst feeling in the world. I turned to singing as an outlet. The pain at home is where my love for music came from.” the singer reveals in the documentary. Eventually, her mother mustered the courage and fled from home with her two daughters, and she never looked back.

Aguilera’s mother is also featured in the heartbreaking documentary, the Chronicle says, even recalling an incident where she got home to find the little Christina with blood dripping from her chin. “I scooped her up and said, ‘Oh my God. What’s wrong?’ She told me, ‘Daddy wanted to take a nap and I made too much noise.’” Aguilera’s mother reveals. Shortly afterwards, she decided to put an end to the abuse and violence, and ran away from home.

Christina Aguilera has never truly managed to move past the many years of abuse. After first opening to the media about those dark years in her life, her father publicly apologized to her and sought her forgiveness. The singer accepted him back into her life, but only for a short while, shutting him out for good at one point after realizing “he is not necessary in my life,” as she put it at the time.