The Huffington Post reports that Queen Latifah has recently addressed the issue of domestic violence in the wake of Ray Rice's indefinite suspension from the NFL. During an upcoming episode of "The Queen Latifah Show," the 44-year old opened up about how domestic abuse affected her family and how it inspired her 1993 single "U.N.I.T.Y."

"U.N.I.T.Y." speaks out against the disrespect of women in society, both from within communities and outside of them. During the show episode, Latifah stated, "21 years ago I wrote the song 'U.N.I.T.Y.' about disrespect and violence towards women...that entire second verse of that song was written about my cousin who was in an abusive relationship with her husband, and my brothers and my cousins pretty much had to rescue her from that relationship. But she did get out of that relationship. And so, today I wish I didn't have to talk about that song. I wish the message in that song wasn't even relevant today. But it is."

Queen Latifah feels very strongly about the subject of domestic violence and abuse, and has herself been a victim of sexual abuse. She told Today in 2009, "[My abuser] violated me... I never told anybody; I just buried it as deeply as I could and kept people at an arm's distance. I never really let a person get too close to me. I could have been married years ago, but I had a commitment issue," conveying some of the hardships she has gone through.

The controversial domestic violence cases within the NFL prompted Queen Latifah to say, "It's sad to me that this problem is headline news because some football players are involved, because this is something that's always around...It's a problem in every part of society. It doesn't matter if you're rich, or whether you're poor. It doesn't matter what your race is. Where you come from, what language you speak. This is a problem for all of us. And it's not a new problem."