Elijah Wood Says Hollywood Has A Pedophilia Crisis On Its Hands
“I’ve been led down dark paths to realize that these things probably are still happening.”
05/23/2016
In an interview with The Sunday Times published on Sunday, Elijah Wood opened up about Hollywood’s problem with the sexual abuse of children.
The 35-year-old actor explained that Tinseltown has a history of abuse scandals that may still be happening. As a former child actor himself, he sympathizes.
While he was fortunate enough to have his mother protect him when he went to Hollywood as a kid, Wood admitted, “I’ve been led down dark paths to realize that these things probably are still happening.”
He also said there are “a lot of vipers in this industry” and that Hollywood has “darkness in the underbelly.”
“If you’re innocent, you have very little knowledge of the world and you want to succeed,” he said, “People with parasitic interests will see you as their prey. What upsets me about these situations is that the victims can’t speak as loudly as the people in power.”
Wood’s quotes come just after news of Woody Allen’s sexual abuse allegations resurfaced online earlier this month. The director’s son, Ronan Farrow, wrote a scathing op-ed about his father for The Hollywood Reporter, in which he condemned the media for failing to ask tougher questions and for overlooking the allegations.
Farrow expressed a similar sentiment to Wood’s, outlining the double standard media holds when covering individuals in positions of power, writing:
When The New York Times ultimately ran my sister’s story in 2014, it gave her 936 words online, embedded in an article with careful caveats.
Soon afterward, the Times gave her alleged attacker twice the space — and prime position in the print edition, with no caveats or surrounding context. It was a stark reminder of how differently our press treats vulnerable accusers and powerful men who stand accused.
Another former child star, Corey Feldman, also revealed in his 2013 memoir, Coreyography, that he had been sexually abused as a young actor in Hollywood, along with Corey Haim.
