KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 31 (UPI) -- Bob Marley's widow has discussed for the first time her tormented marriage to the reggae legend, admitting he continually betrayed and even once raped her.
Rita Marley told Britain's Daily Mirror she tolerated years of infidelity before she finally confronted her husband one day in 1973 and then said no when he wanted to have sex with her.
"He said to me, 'No, you're my wife and you're supposed to.' So he forced himself on me, and I call that rape," Marley, 57, said.
Marley said, despite the abuse, she still adores her husband and his memory as much as when they met in 1965.
"Just because he did these things and cheated on me doesn't mean he was a bad husband," she said. "He always provided for me, always gave me anything I wanted.
"But he was corrupted by show business, by the girls who would throw themselves at him. This is what I've come to understand."
Bob Marley died in his wife's arms from cancer in 1981 when he was 36.
