 Brown had a difficult childhood ; after her divorce , his working mother received welfare benefits . Brown experienced sexual abuse from a camp counselor who threatened to kill the 10 @-@ year @-@ old boy if he told anyone – which he did not disclose , even to his family , until his autobiography Against All Odds ( 2011 ) – and physical abuse from his stepfathers . During various periods of his childhood , Brown lived with his grandparents and his aunt . He shoplifted many times , and was arrested for stealing record albums and brought before Judge Samuel Zoll in Salem , Massachusetts at the age of 12 . Zoll asked Brown if his siblings would like seeing him play basketball in jail and required Brown to write a 1 @,@ 500 @-@ word essay on that question as his punishment . Brown later said , " that was the last time I ever stole . " 
