The former child star says his mother protected him from the "vipers in this industry."
Elijah Wood is making some shocking allegations against the entertainment industry.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, the former child star -- who appeared in such films as The Good Son, North and Flipper in his youth-- alleges that pedophilia has been a real issue in Hollywood.
"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," he says. "There is darkness in the underbelly. What bums me about these situations is that the victims can’t speak as loudly as the people in power. That’s the tragedy of attempting to reveal what is happening to innocent people: they can be squashed, but their lives have been irreparably damaged."
The 35-year-old actor adds, "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."
Wood says that he was not a victim of abuse because his mother, Debra, protected him and he "never went to parties where that kind of thing was going on."
The Lord of the Rings star goes on to allege that even as an adult in the industry, he has been "led down dark paths to realize that these things probably are still happening.”
In 2011, former child star Corey Feldman voiced a similar concern. "The No. 1 problem in Hollywood was and is -- and always will be -- pedophilia," the Goonies actor told ABC News. "That's the biggest problem for children in this industry. It's the big secret."
In 1990, a young Wood told ET that he had other career aspirations, in addition to acting. Here's what the actor had to say: