IN A revealing interview, Margate artist Tracey Emin has revealed how she was raped at the age of 13, saying it was "par for the course" for local girls.

In the candid interview with Piers Morgan, on his show the Dark Side of Fame, the flamboyant artist, best known for her work My Bed, – an installation consisting of her unmade bed with used condoms and blood-stained underwear – said being raped was something that happened to a lot of girls.

She said: "This is a really contentious thing what I'm going to say. When I grew up in Margate it was par for the course – that's what happened to a lot of girls.

"A lot of girls had sex against their will and it wasn't called rape, it was called 'being broken into' and you'd go to school and you'd say 'Yeah, I was broken into last night'.

"Some girls would be broken into as though it was a badge of honour and other girls would be broken into, like me, thinking – I didn't want that to happen and it was against my will. It wasn't a boyfriend but it was someone I knew and, because it was someone I knew, you felt you couldn't say anything.

"Despite the fact you didn't mind going down an alley and being snogged, as far as the world was concerned you didn't mind being raped."

Emin, 45, said the boys were older than her, about 17, and they thought it was perfectly normal.

Her father Enver, an ethnic Turkish Cypriot, was married to another woman and divided his time between the two families.

He owned the Hotel International in Margate, and, when the business failed, Emin's family suffered, splitting up when she was only nine years old.

The Turner Prize shortlisted artist said: "I went from spoilt little witch about to go to private school into this really poverty stricken existence with my mum. My dad spent three days with his family, three days with us and another day somewhere else. If my dad could do it to excess he would, it was completely dysfunctional.

"No stability whatsoever and we were allowed to do whatever we wanted to do."

Emin also admitted on the show that she had been abused as a child but refused to discuss the issue.

Living with her mum Pam and twin brother Paul, she discussed how after her rape she became extremely promiscuous.

She continued: "I knew I'd had sex totally against my will and it made me feel dirty and not good – violated and unhappy. I told my mum but what could she do about it? She washed my coat. After being raped when I was 13 I didn't have sex for six months because I didn't want to be touched.

"If you can't beat them, join them and I thought I'd go for it."

What do you think about Tracey's claims about 'being broken into'?

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