FORMER child actor Jimmy Bennett has broken his silence on allegations that he was sexually assaulted by actress Asia Argento as a teenager — saying he’d been “ashamed and afraid” to speak out publicly.

“I have not made a public statement in the past days and hours because I was ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative,” Bennett, 22, said in a statement to the New York Times.

“I was underage when the event took place, and I tried to seek justice in a way that made sense to me at the time because I was not ready to deal with the ramifications of my story becoming public,” he continued, referring to reports he quietly sought a cash settlement from the older actress.

“At the time I believed there was still a stigma to being in the situation as a male in our society. I didn’t think that people would understand the event that took place from the eyes of a teenage boy.”

The Times reported earlier this week that Argento had paid Bennett $380,000 after he accused her of assaulting him in her California hotel room when he was 17 and she was 37.

Argento on Tuesday insisted she never had sex with Bennett — who played her son in a movie when he was 7 — but said her late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain had paid him off anyway, fearing bad press.

Asia Argento and 17-Year-Old Boy in Bed in Sexual Encounter https://t.co/XK7S5JsoKy — TMZ (@TMZ) August 22, 2018

But on Wednesday, TMZ published screenshots of an alleged text conversation between Argento and a friend in which she admits to having sex with Bennett — but claims the teen “jumped” her and she didn’t know he was underage.

Argento texted her friend a screenshot of a note she claims Bennett wrote her a on Ritz-Carlton stationary — the hotel where the encounter allegedly took place — saying, “Asia, I love you with all my heart. So glad we met again and I’m so glad your in my life. Jimmy.”

In a text to her friend, she wrote: “He wrote me this afterwards and kept sending me unsolicited nudes all these years up until 2 weeks before the attorneys letter.

“It wasn’t raped (sic) but I was frozen. He was on top of me. After, he told me I had been his sexual fantasy since was 12.”

The website also published a photo that appeared to show the two topless in bed together.

Bennett reportedly sought a settlement after Argento, now 42, became one of the first women to publicly accuse producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault last year — kicking off the #MeToo movement.

In his statement, Bennett says her accusations brought up memories of his own trauma.

“Many brave women and men have spoken out about their own experiences during the #metoo movement, and I appreciate the bravery that it took for each and every one of them to take such a stand. I did not initially speak out about my story because I chose to handle it in private with the person who wronged me,” he wrote.

“My trauma resurfaced as she came out as a victim herself.”

This story originally appeared on the New York Post and is republished here with permission.