Gabriel Byrne has said that shame among men who have been sexually abused prevents them from speaking out.
Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, the Dublin-born actor said that there is "A sense that if you were abused, it was your own fault.
"Men are not supposed to talk about their feelings. Men have to be strong and men don't cry.
"For many years, I really thought I was the only one. The freedom it gave me to be able to say: 'Me, too. I was assaulted, too.
"Yet so little action has been taken. There’s a kind of an unspoken acceptance of the idea that sex against girls is kind of the real assault. The violation of women is what you should pay attention to.
"There’s a shame about men speaking out." he added.
Byrne recently completed filming War Of The Worlds season two in London under covid-19 restrictions.
Johnny Capps, the producer of the series, told Deadline: "It'll certainly help that, as a post-apocalyptic sci-fi, War of the Worlds is all about small, isolated groups and vast, empty landscapes.
"Fortunately, we are a show which is in a world where there aren't that many people around." he added.
War Of The Worlds is based on HG Wells book of the same name. Season two of the series remains in post production.
Byrne's biography Walking With Ghosts is published on 12 November.
