Santana’s lifelong struggle
The pain of Carlos Santana's divorce is bringing back a childhood trauma that he has worked hard to keep at bay: sexual molestation at the age of 10 by a friend of his father’s.
Carlos Santana is nursing some deep wounds, says Erik Hedegaard in Rolling Stone. The 61-year-old singer’s wife of 34 years, Deborah, recently filed for divorce, and Santana said the shock of that rejection brought back a piercing childhood trauma: When he was 10, he was sexually molested by a friend of his father’s. His lifetime, Santana says, has been one long struggle with keeping that demon at bay. “There were seven times when suicide was knocking,” he says. “I got to the point where I really thought that death would be sweeter than the pain.” Only his religious faith got him through. “What happened happened to my body, not to me. You don’t lose your purity and your innocence. This is what the spirit has offered me.’’ Eventually, he even managed to forgive the man who abused him. “Forgiveness, man, forgiveness is extremely liberating. And I’m here to tell you with all my heart and spirit, that it can be done. You can be freed.” Now that he’s dealing with the unexpected blow of his marriage’s demise, he’s trying to apply that lesson again. “Right now, I’m still with the dark night of the soul. And I don’t know how it’s going to unfold. There is no clock, no script. What happens happens on God’s time.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Is method acting falling out of fashion?
Talking Points The divisive technique has its detractors, though it has also wrought quite a few Oscar-winning performances
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
'There is a lot riding on the deal for both sides'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Pharaoh's tomb discovered for first time in 100 years
Speed Read This is the first burial chamber of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun in 1922
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published