Early in her life, The Pretenders legendary rocker Chrissie Hynde fell in with a group of outlaw bikers. She should have feared for her life at the time, she says, but she didn't, and during her time with the bikers, she was beaten, robbed and raped, she tells Tracy Smith in an interview for CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH CHARLES OSGOOD to be broadcast Sept. 6 (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.
Hynde, 63, reveals the attack in her new memoir, and she's already taking heat for putting some of the blame on herself. "If you hung out with those guys, that's what happened. That's the way it was," Hynde tells Smith. "I mean, if you go and hang out with outlaws and criminals, that's just part of it."
Hynde says she didn't fear for her life at the time. "I should've. And other people should've. But we weren't thinking that way. You know, we were just trying to score pot and, you know, see bands. That's all we wanted to do. And if motorcycles were part of it, then even better."
That quest, however, led to dangerous circumstances. "With a lot of these guys, once you get involved in them, you don't really get out," Hynde says. "Especially if you're a woman, you become sort of property."
In a wide-ranging interview, Hynde also talks with Smith about her childhood in Akron, Ohio, the creation and success of her band The Pretenders, and how she sees herself today.
"I don't even like calling myself an artist - whatever I am," Hynde says. "It just sounds kind of pompous. When I think of an artist, I think of Van Gogh. You know, I think it's someone really, you know, with a paintbrush."
Everyone has their talents, Hynde says. "I know what mine are," she says. "Mine is looking after a band and orchestrating a rock band. That's what I'm good at. I'm kind of like an arranger."
"I can put a song together, but it only comes to life when I take it to the band," she adds.
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