JOIN USThe Republican senator from Massachusetts has written about the childhood physical and sexual abuse he suffered in a new book, according to the Daily Telegraph.
"My book is about overcoming obstacles," Brown said in a statement. "The physical and sexual abuse is in my book. It's a part of my life, but it certainly isn't the only part of my life story which I tell."
Brown's book is titled "Against All Odds".
The senator talked about the childhood trauma during a television interview with America's CBS network.
Brown said the camp counsellor threatened to kill him if he disclosed the sexual abuse. "He said, 'If you tell anybody ... I'll kill you. I will make sure nobody believes you,'."
He also thought of buying the home where his stepfather had physically abused him so that he could "burn it down".
Being physically abused at home made him more vulnerable to sexual predators, he said.
"When people find people like me at that young, vulnerable age, who are basically lost, the thing that they have over you is, they make you believe that no one will believe you."
Brown said his mother has not even aware of the sexual abuse.
"That's what happens when you're a victim. You're embarrassed. You're hurt."
As a legislator in Massachusetts, Brown was a strong advocate for sexual abuse victims, working on several bills, including one which closed loopholes in sex offender laws.