Marcus Mumford Opens Up About Past Sexual Abuse, Telling His Mother In the Song ‘Grace’
10.08.2022 - 23:43
/ usmagazine.com
Marcus Mumford got candid in a recent interview where he revealed he is a sexual abuse survivor.
“Like lots of people … I was sexually abused as a child,” the Mumford and Sons musician, 35, told GQ in a cover story posted Wednesday, August 10, revealing that the incident took place when he was 6 years old. “Not by family and not in the church, which might be some people’s assumption. But I hadn’t told anyone about it for 30 years.”
The guitarist was sharing a new song, “Cannibal,” with the outlet, which is set to be the first single on his upcoming solo record, when he revealed the traumatic subject matter. “I can still taste you and I hate it / That wasn’t a choice in the mind of a child and you knew it,” the track’s pointed lyrics begin.
The British-American singer also played the song for his mother, Eleanor Mumford, who lives next door to the home he and wife Carey Mulligan share with their two children, Evelyn, 6, and Wilfred, 5, in Devon, England.
Marcus recalled his mother listening intently to the song’s formidable story and then leaving. She did, however, return a few days later to inquire about the lyrics.
“[She said,] ‘Can I ask what that song’s about?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s about the abuse thing.’ She was like, ‘What are you talking about?’” the California native shared. “So once we get through the trauma of that moment for her, as a mother, hearing that and her wanting to protect and help and all that stuff, it’s objectively f–king hilarious to tell your mom about your abuse in a f–king song, of all things.”
The “I Will Wait” singer decided to make “Cannibal” the first song on the album, followed by the track “Grace,” which details the conversation he had with his mother about the abuse.
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