Barry Gibb Reveals Childhood Sexual Abuse Attempt

The Bee Gees singer says he has never spoken of the incident at age 4
By Josh Rosenblatt,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 20, 2017 11:10 AM CDT
Barry Gibb Reveals Childhood Sexual Abuse Attempt
Barry Gibb at the 59th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 12, 2017, in Los Angeles.   (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

The last surviving member of '70s disco legends the Bee Gees has revealed for the first time that he was the victim of a sexual abuse attempt as a child. Speaking to the Radio Times ahead of his performance Sunday at the Glastonbury Festival in England, Barry Gibb says that a man attempted to molest him when he was 4 years old. "He didn’t touch me, but other things happened, and happened to other kids," says Gibb, per the Guardian. He declined to provide details about the man's identity or where the incident took place. "I’ve never said this before," says the 70-year-old singer, adding, "Should I be saying it now?"

Gibb says the man was arrested and the incident is still "vivid" for him. "Four years old and a policeman on your bed at 4 in the morning, interviewing you," he says. "If that doesn’t teach you about life, nothing does." The BBC notes that Gibb was living on the Isle of Wight at the time of the attempt, which likely happened not long after the birth of his twin brothers, Robin and Maurice, with whom he formed the Bee Gees in 1958. The band would go on to sell more than 220 million records worldwide, notes Hollywood Life, making it one of the most successful groups of all time. The Bee Gees were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. (More Barry Gibb stories.)

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