Elijah Wood Rips Rampant Hollywood Child Sex Abuse, Compares It To Jimmy Savile Scandal
Elijah Wood has been a part of Hollywood since he appeared in a small part in Back to the Future II, gaining traction as he snagged larger and larger roles in successful films like Radio Flyer.
During that time, Elijah says he managed to avoid a pitfall that ate away at young men in the Hollywood system: rampant child sex abuse. At the parties where young actors looked to make connections, they found a culture of normalized pedophilia. Wood told The Sunday Times about a twisted world of coercion similar to that of paper’s country’s own “devastating” Jimmy Savile scandal.
“Clearly something major was going on in Hollywood. It was all organized. There are a lot of vipers in this industry, people who only have their own interests in mind. There is a darkness in the underbelly – if you can imagine it, it’s probably happened.”
As Elijah told the paper, he was fortunate to never have to suffer such abuse. Wood’s mother was more concerned with her child’s well-being than his career in Hollywood — something he credits with saving him from psychological damage.
“She was far more concerned with raising me to be a good human than facilitating my career.”
Others were not so lucky. Wood said that many victims still remain silent due to the power of the Hollywood elite, even as their careers have faded.
“That’s the tragedy of attempting to reveal what is happening to innocent people… If you’re innocent you have very little knowledge of the world and you want to succeed… They can be squashed but their lives have been irreparably damaged. People with parasitic interests will see you as their prey.”
One such case that has grown emblematic of Hollywood child sex abuse are the statements of former The Lost Boys stars Corey Feldman met Corey Haim. Feldman later spoke at length about the abuse in his autobiography Coreography. There, he wrote about parents the polar opposite of Elijah Wood’s mother.
Both verbally and physically abused at home, Feldman was ripe fruit for the child predators swarming around Hollywood. With his entire life tied up in the industry, he began to suffer sexual abuse at an extremely young age. He says one of his rare confidants became Michael Jackson.
“Slowly, over a period of many years. I would begin to realize that many of the people I had surrounded myself with were monsters… I was shattered, disgusted, devastated. I needed some normalcy in my life. So, I called Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson’s world, crazy as it sounds, had become my happy place. Being with Michael brought me back to my innocence. When I was with Michael, it was like being 10 years old again.”
Elijah, however, was more specifically referencing another case that ravaged Britain. Wood empathized with what the country went through with DJ and TV personality Jimmy Savile, whose horrific sex crimes were revealed only after his death. Savile assaulted at least 57 women and 15 boys during his career — many of whom were under the age of 16.
[Image via Evan Agostini/Invision/AP]
