Pedophilia is Alive and Well in Hollywood

The casting couch has long been a nasty part of Hollywood lore. And now another horrific behind-the-scenes secret is making its way into our national conversation.

Elijah Wood, 35, who started acting at age 8 and went on to star as the hobbit Frodo in “Lord of the Rings,” talked about pedophilia this week, suggesting sexual abuse of child stars is widespread in Hollywood.

“There are a lot of vipers in this industry,” he said when the topic came up in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Times, “people who only have their own interests in mind. There is darkness in the underbelly.”

Wood quickly put out a statement clarifying his comments, saying they weren’t based on personal experience. But, he added, “This subject of child abuse is an important one that should be discussed and properly investigated.”

Wood said he based his comments on a documentary he had seen, “An Open Secret,” in which young men described sexual assault by older men in Hollywood.

The 2014 documentary incorporates the testimony of several former child performers, sometimes in great detail, complete with clips from commercials and TV shows in which they appeared.

Segments also include interviews with parents, who express their horror or try to justify their blindness, and showcases managers and agents who were treated as jovial, beloved figures — but who were actually predators.

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And now, Corey Feldman, who started acting at age 11 and has become something of a poster boy for the cause, is bringing it up again.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Feldman, who found fame in films including “Goonies” and “The Lost Boys,” insists Internet-era pedophilia is a “growing, not shrinking” phenomenon in Hollywood.

In fact, one of his abusers is still a prominent show biz figure today. The actor runs into him every now and then, but has never confronted him.

Feldman would “love to name names,” he says, and be able to target the specific perpetrators, but he can’t because California has a statute of limitations that prevents any old charges from being brought. Feldman says that if he were mention anybody’s name, he’d be the one with legal problems.

Feldman and late fellow actor Corey Haim (they worked together in “Lost Boys” and were known as “The Two Coreys,” which would later be the name of their short-lived reality show) have talked about their abuse in the past.

Haim was just 11 when a man raped him on a movie set. (Haim died in 2010 at age 38 after a long battle with drug addiction.)

Feldman says now that Haim’s rapist was probably connected to a bigger network of pedophiles in Hollywood. They throw parties and invite the kids, usually ages 10 to 16. By having a network, it’s a way that the powerful men can protect each other, using intimidation and threats as a way to silence their victims.

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And because they are powerful, starry-eyed parents hoping to see their kids make it big in Hollywood trust these men — predators ranging from publicists to photographers — and hand their children over to do whatever they want, or go to whatever event seems necessary for the path to stardom.

“And all these men were all friends,” says Feldman. “Ask anybody in our group of kids at that time: They were passing us back and forth to each other.”

The abuse involves girls, too. Hollywood acting coach and former actor Cameron Thor, 55, who once counted Cameron Diaz and Helen Hunt among his clients, was found guilty last year of grooming and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl he was mentoring.

Thor, who appeared in films “Jurassic Park” and “A Few Good Men” in the early 90s before starting his acting business, was convicted by a jury in Los Angeles Supreme Court of engaging in lewd conduct with a child under the age of 14.

All young actors were — and still are — vulnerable.