David Schwimmer sat down with Good Morning Britain today to discuss why he believes child sex abuse is so severely underestimated in the UK.
The Friends star is supporting the NSPCC in setting up Child Advocacy centres for sexually abused children in the UK.
He hopes that these refuges will give the victims access to all the care and services they need - without forcing them to go through a long process.
He explained: "The child only has to be interviewed once and tell his or her own story once, instead of being shuffled between various institutions."
Explaining why the cause is so close to his heart, David said: “When all of us on the TV show [Friends] first became celebrities, we were all approached by all these different charities, ‘will you come on board? Will you do this? Get involved, will you speak out?’”
He continued: “I have several friends, men and women, who are victims of child sexual abuse.
“Especially as a father of a 5 year old daughter the entire subject matter is even more emotional and more meaningful to me.”
One in 20 children are thought to be victims of sexual abuse in the UK, but the actor thinks that figure is inaccurate.
He explained: “In the States our figures are very different and I feel are closer to the truth.
“In the States it’s one in four girls, and one in six boys [that are victims of abuse].”
On how his role is important to the charity, David added: “That’s the great benefit of celebrity, to use it to do this, to communicate something more important, something bigger than oneself.”
The 49-year-old actor, who famously played one of the six Friends, has a five-year-old daughter named Cleo.
As a result, David has been inspired to help fight for children’s rights, and is the Director of The Rape Foundation Board in the USA.
He also directed Trust, a movie about a teenage girl who is groomed online by a man posing as a 16-year-old boy.
She later agrees to meet her online ‘friend’ and is subsequently raped - a fictional story inspired by Schwimmer’s work with child victims.
To ensure the film remained authentic and not gratuitous, David enlisted FBI agents and rape treatment councillors to help with the development of the script.
He told the BBC: "If you have great actors, often a feature film can move people in a way that a documentary can’t.
"You go on a much more meaningful and emotional relationship with these people as an audience, after investing an hour and 45 minutes in this family."
Good Morning Britain, ITV, weekdays 6am - 8.30am