Leslie Jones Reveals She Was Sexually Abused as a Child

Leslie Jones is fearlessly frank about a dark moment from her past. The Saturday Night Live alum opens up about childhood trauma in her new memoir, Leslie F*cking Jones, released Sept. 19. During a wide-ranging interview with PEOPLE magazine, Jones, 56, revealed what moves her to open up so much these days.

“I knew I would write a book one day, but I’m kind of glad I did it now, so I can remember some of it,” said Jones. It was still difficult for her in some cases to remember some details, she said, because it was “very emotional” and “very hard.”

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Born Annette Leslie Jones as an army brat in Memphis, Tenn, to Sundra Diane Jones, who was employed by a cable company, and Willie Jones Jr., an electrician at a radio station, Jones had already experienced her earliest hardships by the age of two. “It was one of my babysitters who messed with me,” she writes of being sexually assaulted as a child when she was two or three years old.

“Man I wish I could go back and fight that guy — that little girl couldn’t protect herself.” Jones explains that she is unclear whether her parents, who have since passed away, ever heard what had happened. She documents that when looking back at pictures, she notices that the abuse coincided with when the light in her eyes began to fade.

The star attributes her regained and maintained confidence largely to the guidance of her father. “My dad would always say to me, ‘I don’t care what they tell you, you can do whatever you want to do as long as you work hard,’ recalls Jones. “‘They’re going to tell you you’re Black, they’re going to tell you you’re a female,’ he’d say, ‘but none of that matters.’”

Upon reflection, the star, who was also connected to mentors and after-school programs by her mother to help improve her self-confidence, believes that the encouragement she received from her parents eventually led to her success and overcoming all obstacles in life. Both of her parents passed away in the early 2000s from heart-related illnesses.

“That’s why I never quit,” explains Jones, who found comedy as a form of escape in college and embarked on a turbulent and exhausting journey on the stand-up comedy circuit before breaking through SNL. “There were days where I was just crying and worrying, but the thought always came to my head, ‘Okay, what can I do.’ Dad said, ‘Become undeniable.’”