Queen Latifah looks fab as she graces the July cover of Essence Magazine sporting a new short summer cut and cream off the shoulder bohemian dress. In her cover story she reveals a traumatic occurrence she has never talked about before until now…that she was abused as a child by a baby-sister.

“He violated me. I never told anybody. I just buried it as deeply as I could and kept people at an arms length. I never really let a person get too close to me.”

On her personal life, she continues to keep it private…

“My personal life is personal and it’s really not for everyone else,” she told the mag. “With what I do for a living, I have to share a lot of myself with a lot of people, but I’m not going to share everything.”

On the continuous speculation on her sexual orientation…

“They want to make up stories and make me gay all the time and it’s like, ‘Keep running with it,’” she said. “I’ve definitely been annoyed by it, but I learned a long time ago that it was pointless to say anything. Everybody else can do the reading; I’ll do the living.”

The July issue of Essence magazine is on newsstands now.