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Elijah Wood's long career in Hollywood, beginning when he was just 8, taught him that there "are a lot of vipers" in the industry, he told the Sunday Times in a new interview.

Wood compared unnamed child abuse allegations in America to the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal that rocked the United Kingdom after the longtime entertainer faced hundreds of sexual abuse allegations following his death (and thus his loss of protection from scrutiny).

"You all grew up with Savile – Jesus, it must have been devastating," Wood, 35, said. "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.

"There is darkness in the underbelly – if you can imagine it, it's probably happened."

The Lord of the Rings star, whose first film role came at age 8, told the Times he avoided that underbelly, thanks to a mother who was "far more concerned with raising me to be a good human than facilitating my career."

"I never went to parties where that kind of thing was going on. This bizarre industry presents so many paths to temptation," he said. "If you don't have some kind of foundation, typically from family, then it will be difficult to deal with."

Asked by the Times if he thinks sex crimes are "still a problem for Hollywood," Wood said "these things probably still are happening."

"From my reading and research, I've been led down dark paths to realize that these things probably are still happening," he said. "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."

"They can be squashed, but their lives have been irreparably damaged."

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Such abuse is double-edged, Wood said.

"What upsets me about these situations is that the victims can't speak as loudly as the people in power," he said. "There's the tragedy of attempting to reveal what is happening to innocent people:

Tomita, 20, was stabbed during an event in Koganei in western Tokyo on Saturday around 5 p.m., police tell KYODO. Tomohiro Iwazaki, 27, confessed to the crime, according to police, and was arrested after witnesses said he attacked the young star, according to KYODO.

According to NHK, Tomita was scheduled to perform at the event before she was attacked. The news station also reports that Tomita was stabbed in the neck, chest and back and was found unconscious. She is reportedly still in critical condition as of Sunday.

Police told Asahi Shimbun that Tomita had preciously complained to authorities about being stalked by a male fan who wrote her "obsessive" messages on social media.

This is not the first time that an attack on a female Japanese musician has rocked Asia's music world. In May 2014, girl group AKB48 were attacked by a man wielding a saw at one of the group's meet-and-greet events. Two members of the group were taken to the hospital with broken bones and cuts on their arms and heads, The Guardian previously reported.

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