Joshua Bassett recently sat down for a candid interview with GQ, where he shared some revelations about his past, including that he was sexually assaulted as a child. “I suffered a lot of sexual abuse in my childhood,” he told the publication in tears. “I didn’t remember it until last year, which is pretty crazy. I’ve buried it until now. And when I was a teenager, a much older man abused me regularly, and I wasn’t able to see it for what it was back then. ”
The singer and Lycée Musical: The Musical: The Series The star released three new songs on December 3. One of them is called “Set Me Free” and tells Joshua about his traumatic experience. According to him, the song is “a hymn to me and the kind of people who have had pain and power over me my whole life.” He added, “You’ve taken so much from me, but you can’t take everything from me.”
Joshua intends to deepen his healing journey in an upcoming episode of a podcast series devoted to “heated discussions”, slated to launch next year. Joshua thinks the episode “will hopefully help people who go through this” and wants it to be “the podcast I wish I had as a kid.” Joshua’s other new songs also explore parts of his personal life, like his breakup with Olivia Rodrigo. On “Crisis,” he sings, “Half the shit you say is only half real, ruining my life as a career change.” In a statement, Joshua said, “Each of these songs identifies a different point in time, in my treatment,” after saying he had “by far experienced one of the most difficult times of my life.”
If you or someone you know would like to speak with someone who is trained to help survivors of sexual assault, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
