Joshua Bassett Says Set Me Free' Is About His Childhood Sexual Abuse

Joshua Bassett opened up about sexual abuse he experienced growing up in a new, candid interview with GQ.

While the 20-year-old mostly spoke with the publication about events from his recent past, including the backlash he faced from fans assuming Olivia Rodrigo’s hit “Drivers License” was a tell-all about their relationship, he dived a little deeper after mentioning that he’s been in therapy twice a week and spending time working on himself.

“I experienced sexual abuse a lot in my childhood,” Bassett told profiler Willa Bennett, who categorized the confession as “out of nowhere.”

“I didn’t remember that until last year, which is pretty insane,” he continued. “I buried it so far. And when I was a teen, a much older man routinely abused me, and I wasn’t able to see it for what it was at the time.”  

The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star has been slowly opening up about his life over the past year, previously speaking with GQ about being a “very emotional kid” who was constantly reprimanded for crying.

He also acknowledged being “part of the LGBTQ+ community” after coming out so casually that people initially weren’t sure if he was serious.

“Who doesn’t think Harry Styles is cool? Also he’s hot, you know. He’s very charming, too. Lots of things. I guess this is also my coming out video,” he said at the time.

And Bassett’s desire to speak freely about his life and his struggles seems like it will continue in the form of a podcast he told GQ that will be launching next year, which he described as “the podcast that I wish I had when I was a kid.”

In the meantime, one of his newly released songs, “Set Me Free,” sticks to this theme and is reportedly partly about processing the trauma he went through with his abuse.

It’s “an anthem for me and the sort of people who’ve held pain and power over me my whole live,” he said.