Singer Jake Zyrus has disclosed experiencing years of sexual abuse during childhood in his newly released memoir “I Am Jake,” detailing traumatic incidents that allegedly began when he was just six years old.
In the book released this week, Zyrus, formerly known as Charice Pempengco, recounts a pattern of assault by an uncle that started while living at his grandmother’s house.
“The first time it happened, I was playing in the living room while he drew. He looked up from the sketches he was making and called me over. ‘Come here. I’ll draw you,’ he said,” Zyrus shares in the memoir.
The singer describes having an immediate sense of danger: “Even at that age, my instincts told me something bad was going to happen. But I had no choice but to follow him.”
According to the memoir, the uncle subjected Zyrus to repeated incidents of sexual abuse, including unwanted touching and attempted penetration, accompanied by threats. “His grip was so tight on my small frame, and he always punctuated these attacks with the same threat: ‘If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you,'” Zyrus wrote.
The singer describes one particularly disturbing incident, writing: “The only reason he didn’t succeed was because it was physically impossible. I was a tiny six-year-old girl and that could have killed me.”
Zyrus claims that when he eventually told his mother, Raquel Pempengco, about the abuse 15 years later, she allegedly did not believe him and instead sided with the uncle.
Raquel Pempengco has publicly responded to the allegations on social media, calling them “fake news” in a Facebook post on March 1. “Meron n nmang fake news. Galing daw isang libro. Mga bashers hinde updated yang libro na yan… Abangan nio ako ang mag uupdate ng libro na yan,” she wrote.
In subsequent posts on March 2, Raquel made additional statements, including one where she wrote: “Peace of mind pa rin ang pipiliin ko kesa patulan ko ang mga walang kwentang tao at mga walang utang na loob… sila na magdadala ng lahat… the truth still prevails.”
