"Friends" Star Advocate for Sexually Abused Children

Ross from Friends has an important message about child abuse in the UK

Ashitha Nagesh for Metro.co.uk

David Schwimmer has said we are underestimating the scale of our child sex abuse problem here in the UK.

Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, the Friends star said that the UK’s estimate that one in 20 children are victims of abuse is inaccurate.

‘In the States, figures are very different and are closer to the truth,’ he said. ‘One in four girls, and one in six boys.’

Schwimmer, who played Ross on Friends, has pledged his support to the NSPCC in setting up special refuges in the UK, similar to those in Iceland and the US.

The refuges will give child victims access to all the services they need in one place.


David Schwimmer is a big campaigner for child abuse awareness (Picture: Getty Images)

‘I have several friends, men and women, who are victims of child sexual abuse,’ he said. ‘Especially as a father of a five-year-old daughter, the entire subject matter is even more emotional and more meaningful to me.’

Aside from his work in comedy, Schwimmer has devoted his time to raising awareness of child sexual abuse.

In 2010 he directed Trust, a movie about a teenage girl who was abused after being groomed online by an adult man.

He also sits on the board of US-based organisation The Rape Foundation, which runs Stuart House child houses in California.

Two refuges for children will be opened in London next year, and there are plans to open three more in the city soon afterwards.

The NSPCC, in collaboration with NHS England, hope to then create more refuges across the country.