High School Musical’s Joshua Bassett reveals childhood sexual abuse by ‘much older man’

Joshua Bassett opened up on his childhood abuse (Picture: Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock)

Joshua Bassett has revealed he was ‘routinely abused’ by a man much older than him as a child, but repressed the memories to the point where he only ‘remembered’ the ordeal last year. 

The former High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star, 20, opened up to GQ about dealing with the trauma of what he went through. 

He revealed: ‘I experienced sexual abuse a lot in my childhood. I didn’t remember that until last year, which is pretty insane. I buried it so far.’

Joshua added that he also experienced abuse from an older man when he was a teenager as well: ‘And when I was a teen, a much older man routinely abused me, and I wasn’t able to see it for what it was at the time.’

The singer and actor says his new song Set Me Free helped him to process the trauma, with lyrics including: ‘You’ve taken so much from me, but you don’t get to take all of me.’

Joshua says the track is an ‘anthem for me and the sort of people who’ve held pain and power over me my whole life.’ 

Joshua, who was rumoured to have dated co-star Olivia Rodrigo, wants to start a podcast to help others (Picture: Walt Disney Pictures/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

Joshua is using his music to process the trauma (Picture: Amy Sussman/KCA2021/Getty Images for Nickelodeon)

He also revealed he is launching a podcast next year to talk about the ‘heavy’ issues in the hopes of helping others who have been in similar situations. 

Joshua has been using his music to process the past year, with his single Crisis being about ‘all the crazy PR over the year’ following his split with Olivia Rodrigo. 

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The actor had come under fire from fans after being the reported subject of Olivia’s break-up songs Good 4 U and Drivers License from her album Sour. 

The former couple are reported to have met while filming High School Musical: The Musical: The Series in 2019, but neither confirmed or denied they were dating while they were together. 

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