It has always seemed that child stars had a tendency to completely burn out as they entered adulthood. If anything, it looked like the pressures of Hollywood living were simply too much for young people to handle; by the time they were adults, they had nothing left in the tank and were just completely unable to cope with the real world. While that may still, in part, be true, recent talk has instead focused on the darker underbelly of Hollywood.
After Elijah Wood broke his silence on how there are many child predators operating in Hollywood when the topic of Jimmy Savile came up, he sort of opened up the flood gates. While he claims to have no actual, firsthand knowledge of abuses since his parents looked out for him, he still knew of abuses that happened and that there were younger actors and actresses who weren’t as lucky as he was. Personally, when I think about troubled child actors, the names Corey Feldman and Corey Haim come to mind. The Coreys, as they were called, were inseparable, filming multiple movies together and even having a reality show called The Two Coreys.
The death of Corey Haim in 2010 was sad, but not shocking considering how troubled the actor had been over the years. Feldman even publicly distanced himself from his good friend midway through the filming of the second season of their reality show because of Haim’s substance abuse problems. Now, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Feldman weighs in on the hornets nest that Wood stirred up by talking about abuses. It’s not pretty.
Feldman talks about being molested himself, but also that Haim was directly raped by a producer, something that haunted the actor for the rest of his life.
He 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. It would destroy his whole being. As I look at my son, a sweet, innocent, 11-year-old boy and then try to put him in Corey Haim’s shoes, I go, “Oh my God — well of course he was erratic and not well-behaved on sets and things like that.” What more could we expect of him really?
Feldman goes on to explain that while he’d love to name names, he fears legal retribution for speaking up due to the statute of limitations in California and how long ago said abuses happened. If these claims are indeed true, then it is horrific, especially with Feldman claiming that one such abuser is still very active and in a position of power in the film industry right now.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
