I have always adored actor Gabriel Byrne, and I especially love his tortured character as a therapist on the HBO series In Treatment.
Gabriel recently did a lengthy interview on Irish television, and discussed his religious childhood, and unfortunately, his abuse at the hands of priests. You can watch the whole interview here .
Byrne, 59, went to seminary at age 11 to begin studying to be a priest, and he lasted 4 1/2 years.
"Unfortunately, I experienced some sexual abuse," he said. "It was a known and admitted fact of life amongst us that there was this particular man, and you didn't want to be left in the dressing room with him. There were certain boundaries, sexual boundaries, that were crossed... I didn't feel that i suffered at the time.. It took many years to come to terms with it and to forgive those incidents that I felt had deeply hurt me."
"Again, I didn't think it severely impacted me at the time. But I suppose when I think about my later life, and how I had difficulties with certain issues, there is the real possibility they could have been attributable to that." He later talked about his own battle with alcoholism.
He also said while, "I was beaten very regularly," he has never laid a hand on his two children, whom he had with ex-wife Ellen Barkin.
He left the seminary when he discovered women and felt more excitement for the female form than he ever had for the priesthood.
Watch the whole interview here.
