*Mexican American rock star Carlos Santana is reflecting on his childhood trauma and says he forgives the man who sexually abused him.
“I learned to look at everyone who ever went out of their way to hurt me, demean me or make me feel like less, like they’re 5 or 6 years old, and I’m able to look at them with understanding and compassion,” Santana, 75, told People in an interview.
“For example, this person who abused me sexually, instead of sending him to hell forever, I visualized him like a child, and behind him there was a lot of light,” he added.
“So I can send him to the light or send him to hell knowing that if I send him to hell, I’m going to go with him. But if I send him to the light, then I’m going to go with him also.”
The legendary guitarist previously told Rolling Stone he was abused “almost every day” as a minor. The abuse lasted from the ages of 10 and 12.
“You want to get angry with yourself for not knowing better. The mind has a very insidious way of making you feel guilty: You’re the guilty party, shame on you, you’re the one who brought this on yourself,” he explained.
Santana told the Guardian in 2014 that his abuser was an American tourist who was friends with his parents.
“I was the victim, but they were hearing that I made it happen,” he said of his parents, noting that his mother “didn’t have the compassion to say, ‘I feel so bad that I didn’t read the signs.’”
“That stayed on my mind for a long, long time,” he shared.
Meanwhile, Santana’s life and career are chronicled in a new documentary titled “Carlos” by filmmaker Rudy Valdez. The doc features “never-before-seen footage — guided by Santana himself, in his own words,” per the synopsis. The project recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
READ MORE: Carlos Santana ‘Doing Very Well’ After Collapsing On Stage
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