Santana’s lifelong struggle

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.”

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