Chester Bennington, the frontman for nu-metal act Linkin Park, has revealed that becoming a musician saved him from the trauma he suffered as a child, claiming to be the victim of years of child abuse via an older male friend.

The 31-year-old “What I’ve Done” singer says that if it wasn’t for music, he’d likely have fallen into serious trouble while growing up.

“It was an awful time. I hated everyone in my family. I felt abandoned by my mum, my dad was not very emotionally stable then, and there was no one I could turn to,” he admitted of his time with his first band, Grey Daze.

“The relationship I had with that band was the first time I felt a connection with anybody. From then on, I started getting some confidence back. I also found it a good way to escape the abuse of my past.”