Joshua Bassett Gets Candid About Surviving Sexual Abuse: 'When I Picture 5-Year-Old Me, I Burst Into Tears'

Joshua Bassett is continuing to process the sexual abuse he faced as a child.

In an all-encompassing interview about his new music — he released a trio of singles earlier this month — and life with Zach Sang, the singer opened up about how facing sexual abuse as a child and how he's been able to cope with the experience as an adult.

"I think a keyword for me in this healing process has been 'and' because a lot of times what we'll say is, 'Yes, they hurt me, but they're hurting themselves.' And what that does is it invalidates your own experience," the 21-year-old told Sang. "And the key for me is saying and because and can make can allow both to exist."

He added, "So saying, 'This person abused me, and they're suffering,' is how you allow space to process and validate your feelings, but also then hold space for them as a human being not that you should or that they deserve it. I'm not saying that, but that's just my personal philosophy."

Bassett said he's only started to recollect what happened to him as a child over the last year and revealed that the abuse he faced when he was only 5 years old happened with someone in his family.

"I was 5, so f— if I know what's going on," he said. "And this person was of course, [saying] 'You can't tell anybody' and so I'm thinking, you know, if I tell him I'm gonna be in trouble."

In regards to his abuse as a young teen, Bassett said he met an older guy who was 18 or 19 doing theater.

"And then when I was about 13 or 14, this much older guy, who was one of my close friends started… grooming me and it started becoming something else," he said. "I didn't really fully understand what was wrong."

Bassett said he doesn't have full memory of all the things that happened, but more "flashbulbs images" of what he endured. He said that over time, more memories of what happened to him start to come up. He also sees a therapist.

"Last year, it all came back," he said. "And so it was like, 'What the hell? How did I forget that that happened?' And in processing it, it's been tough."

"And recently as I'm really looking at it in the eyes and what's really happened and how it's affected my entire life. And how it's f—ed with me, I'm angry," he added. "Like, that is not I should not have been, that is not okay. And for whatever reason, when we get abused, we don't necessarily always have our self-worth at the forefront of our mind ever."

Bassett shared that he'll be talking about what he went through on an upcoming podcast.

"When I picture five-year-old me, I burst into tears. When I picture 13-year-old me, I burst into tears," Basset said. "When you're able to see the version of you from the outside that was being abused, then you're able to see that that person, that human being, didn't deserve that."

Bassett was candid about what it's like to speak up about what he faced, even if he received messages from trolls who downplayed his sexual assault.

"Everything that's ever happened to you permanently changes," Bassett said. "How I feel about it will change of course. But who it's made me is forever. And yes, I'm going to turn into somebody else. But every time I change as a person, it's embedded with the DNA of who I was before."

After releasing his tracks "Set Me Free," "Crisis" and "Secret," he revealed that he experienced sexual abuse as a child in an interview with GQ.

"I experienced sexual abuse a lot in my childhood," he said. "I didn't remember that until last year, which is pretty insane. I buried it so far."

He added, "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."

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.