Madonna: I Was Raped on a Rooftop

Even die-hard fans may not recall the story of Madonna's rape at knife-point, but she brings it up in a soul-searching interview with Harper's Bazaar, reports US Weekly: "New York wasn't everything I thought it would be," she says of her younger years. "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." Her apartment was also broken into three times, even though she "had nothing of value after they took my radio the first time."

After her divorce from Sean Penn, she says, "a real low point in my life" was adopting son David Banda in Malawi: "I didn't know that trying to adopt a child was going to land me in another sh-- storm." She endured all kinds of accusations, including kidnapping, child trafficking, bribery, and witchcraft. "One of the many things I learned from all of this: If you aren't willing to fight for what you believe in, then don't even enter the ring." Click to see her Harper's Bazaar photos. (More Madonna stories.)