Madonna: I was raped in my first year living in NYC

NEW YORK  - Michigan native Madonna was raped at knife point when she first moved to New York City, the star has revealed.

"New York wasn't everything I thought it would be. It did not welcome me with open arms," Madonna wrote in an essay published on HarpersBazaar.com. "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, and had my apartment broken into three times. I don't know why; I had nothing of value after they took my radio the first time."

The Material Girl had dropped out of the University of Michigan to pursue dance in Manhattan in 1977. She wrote that the tall buildings took her breath away, but that the city was also dirty and frightening.

"But I was also scared [expletive] and freaked out by the smell of piss and vomit everywhere, especially in the entryway of my third-floor walk-up," she wrote.

She wasn't scared away, though. Madonna went on to sign a record deal in 1982. Several singles from her self-titled debut became club hits and propelled her to stardom.