The recent Penn State sex abuse scandal has been a constant in national news headlines over the past few weeks. Due to the ubiquitous story, country singer Vince Gill was reminded of a situation in his past where he was a near victim of sexual abuse.

Gill, now 54 and a 20-time Grammy winner, revealed to CNN and ‘Showbiz Tonight’ that while he was in school, he endured a similar instance where a P.E. teacher made an unwanted advance toward him.

“It conjured up something that happened in my past when I was about that age, as a 12-year-old kid starting 7th grade,” he said as the Penn State news dominated the media. “There was unfortunately a gym teacher at our school that wound up being the same kind of thing … and there were some advances made towards me that were very awkward.”

Nothing actually happened, luckily for Gill. “I had the good fortune or the good luck to jump up and run,” Gill recalled.

Realizing that what happened could have been catastrophic, and he continued, “I was so young, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know much about sexuality.”

The father of three girls also said that it’s crucial for parents and children to communicate and have an open and honest dialogue about matters such as this. He said, “I have a 10-year-old kid now, so it’s all of a sudden red flag, red flag, red flag, red flag. I just want to go to her and say, ‘Please! Tell me anything that makes you feel awkward or weird that anybody says or does.’”

He summed up situations like this in a simple but effective way, saying, “There are a lot of people unfortunately preying on kids, and it doesn’t get any sicker than that.” Lots of Americans share that sentiment.

More From WBKR-FM