Read details of this story at http://9jaflave..com Posted on Saturday, 5 October 2013; 9.54pm

Madonna has revealed she was raped at knife-point at the start of her career. The pop legend opened up about her traumatic ordeal for the first time in nearly two decades, revealing she was sexually abused by a stranger at knife-point shortly after arriving in New York City from Rochester, Michigan, to pursue her dreams of stardom.

Writing in the November issue of Harper's Bazaar magazine, the 55-year-old singer recalls: 'New York wasn't everything I thought it would be. 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.'

The fearless music icon graces the cover of Harper's Bazaar November issue, opening up about her 30 years of ruling pop in a personal essay that chronicles her childhood, moving to New York and rise to fame.

'I was defiant. Hell-bent on surviving. On making it. But it was hard and it was lonely, and I had to dare myself every day to keep going,' the Rochester, Michigan-born singer writes of her first years in Manhattan.

In the ostentatious and bondage-inspired fashion shoot, photographed by Terry Richardson, a daring Madonna makes a statement in her signature fearless fashion: form-fitting dresses, thigh-high leather boots, heavy metal and lots of gold.

'If I can't be daring in my work or the way I live my life, then I don't really see the point of being on this planet,' explains the singer, who has hinted that she could be releasing a new album in 2014.

But the queen of pop says it wasn't always so easy. On her teenage years, she admits most people thought she was 'strange'.

'I didn't have many friends; I might not have had any friends. But it all turned out good in the end, because when you aren't popular and you don't have a social life, it gives you more time to focus on your future.

'And for me, that was going to New York to become a real artist. To be able to express myself in a city of non-conformists. To revel and shimmy and shake in a world and be surrounded by daring people.'

'I was scared s***less and freaked out by the smell of piss and vomit everywhere, especially in the entryway of my third-floor walk-up,' she recalls.Then known as Madonna Louise Ciccone, the signer was just 19 years old when she moved to New York City in 1977 with $35 in her pocket. Trying to be a professional dancer at the time, she paid her rent 'by posing nude for art classes'.

Read details of this story at http://9jaflave..com Posted on Saturday, 5 October 2013; 9.54pm