Elijah Wood says Hollywood is masking child sex epidemic in its seedy underbelly

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Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood claims that Hollywood has its own Jimmy Savile scandal and believes young actors are being sexually abused by predatory 'vipers' in the industry.

The Hobbit actor, 35, told The Sunday Times that the child abuse is 'probably still happening'

He told The Sunday Times that his mother had protected him from abuse when he first arrived in Hollywood aged eight.

But he said: 'I've been led down dark paths to realise that these things are probably still happening.'

The actor, who played Frodo Baggins in Lord of the Rings, believes that other actors remain in danger.

He added: '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. What upsets me about these situations is that the victims can't speak as loudly as the people in power.'

Wood, who now knows he was lucky to avoid being abused, compared the allegations in Hollywood to the claims linked to Savile following his death in October 2011.

Wood said: 'You all grew up with Savile - Jesus, it must have been devastating. Clearly something major was going on in Hollywood. It was all organised.

'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.'

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