Corey Feldman Opens Up About Child Sex Abuse in Hollywood

4 minute read

Corey Feldman is speaking out once again about the alleged child sex abuse he suffered alongside pal Corey Haim – opening up about how they were invited to parties where adult men attempted to befriend them.

“When somebody approaches you and says, ‘Hey, this is a Hollywood party where you get to hang out with the powerful people in Hollywood,’ well that sounds like a great opportunity,” Feldman, 44, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Feldman’s latest comments come in the wake of Elijah Wood’s remarks to London’s Sunday Times, in which he reportedly said that there are “a lot of vipers” in the industry, and referred to the U.K.’s Jimmy Savile abuse scandal.

“You all grew up with Savile – Jesus, it must have been devastating,” Wood, 35, said. “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.

Wood later clarified that he has “no first hand experience or observation of the topic” and said his comments came after he watched a “powerful documentary.”

Feldman, meanwhile, told THR that he does believe there was likely some kind of shadow network that preyed on kids when he and Haim were young.

“Yes. I believe that Haim’s rapist was probably connected to something bigger and that is probably how he has remained protected for all these years. This person uses intimidation and threats as a way to keep people quiet. And all these men were all friends. Ask anybody in our group of kids at that time: They were passing us back and forth to each other. [Alison Arngrim] from Little House on the Prairie said [in an interview], “Everybody knew that the two Coreys were just being passed around. Like it was something people joked about on studio lots.”

Feldman also said that Haim, who died in 2010 at age 38, “had more direct abuse than I did.”

“With me, there were some molestations and it did come from several hands, so to speak, but with Corey, his was direct rape, whereas mine was not actual rape. And his also occurred when he was 11. My son is 11 now and I can’t even begin to fathom the idea of something like that happening to him,” he said.

Although Feldman said he’s “not able to name names” and still does not intend to press charges against his alleged attackers, “if somebody came forward with a suit against one of these people [who molested me], I would certainly be more than happy to back them up.”

When asked whether any of his alleged attackers still work in Hollywood, Feldman said “one of them is. He’s still prominently in the business today.”

Feldman also explained why he hasn’t sought to press charges.

“People are frustrated, people are angry, they want to know how is this happening and they want answers and they turn to me and they say, ‘Why don’t you be a man and stand up and name names and stop hiding and being a coward?’ I have to deal with that, which is not pleasant, especially given the fact that I would love to name names,” he said. “I’d love to be the first to do it. But unfortunately California conveniently enough has a statute of limitations that prevents that from happening. Because if I were to go and mention anybody’s name I would be the one that would be in legal problems and I’m the one that would be sued.

“We should be talking to the district attorneys and the lawmakers in California, especially because this is where the entertainment industry is and this is a place where adults have more direct and inappropriate connection with children than probably anywhere else in the world,” he added.

Feldman also said he’s concerned that social media makes inappropriate interactions between adults in the entertainment industry and kids even easier.

“They reach out to little kids on Twitter, they reach out to little kids on Facebook, and they say, “I’m a big producer and I can help you.” With social media we have more access than ever to everybody,” he said. “It’s a growing problem, not a shrinking problem.”

This article originally appeared on People.com

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