Elijah Wood on Child Abuse in Hollywood: "There Are a Lot of Vipers in This Industry"

“There is a darkness in the underbelly — if you can imagine it, it’s probably happened,” said Wood in an interview with the Sunday Times.

Elijah Wood is speaking out on the dangers of child abuse hidden within Hollywood. The Telegraph reported that in an interview with the Sunday Times, the Lord of the Rings star expressed that abuse within the industry still exists and is kept under wraps by those with power in Hollywood.

“There are a lot of vipers in this industry, people who only have their own interests in mind," said Wood. The actor, who currently stars alongside Nicolas Cage in The Trust, compared child abuse in Hollywood to the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal in the U.K. where the late entertainment host sexually abused boys and girls without being charged.

“You all grew up with Savile — Jesus, it must have been devastating,” said Wood. "There is a darkness in the underbelly — if you can imagine it, it’s probably happened.”

While child actor Corey Feldman (The Goonies, Gremlins) says he is among those in Hollywood that are victims of abuse, Wood said his mother's efforts to restrict him from attending Hollywood parties at a young age helped him from being caught up in the dangerous side of Hollywood.

“She was far more concerned with raising me to be a good human than facilitating my career,” said Wood. “If you’re innocent, you have very little knowledge of the world and you want to succeed. “People with parasitic interests will see you as their prey.”

The Telegraph also reported that Anne Henry — the co-founder of Bizparentz, which provides support to child actors — says that her organization is currently supporting 100 victims of abuse and that a "tsunami" of claims were on the way.

Wood expressed that the issue of abuse continues since victims “can’t speak as loudly as people in power.”

“That’s the tragedy of attempting to reveal what is happening to innocent people," he said. "They can be squashed, but their lives have been irreparably damaged.”