‘Westworld’ Star Evan Rachel Wood Speaks Out on Sexual Assault: ‘It’s a Global Epidemic’ — Watch

During the first season of the HBO drama “Westworld,” we watched the artificially created Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) struggle to escape a system of oppression — but in the real world, that struggle is just as real.

Wood, who has always been a vocal proponent of equal rights, posted a video to YouTube Wednesday discussing the reasons why women are often reluctant to tell their stories of sexual assault.

For nearly 15 minutes, Wood speaks candidly on what it means for women to come forward with the truth. While there’s been a massive rise in women making public statements about the toxic culture within Hollywood that has enabled men like Harvey Weinstein to perpetrate abuse, as Wood notes speaking out is not an easy thing to do.

Wood admits that she has not publicly named the men who assaulted her in the past because of the financial and emotional toll she knows it will cause her. “It took seven years to even admit to myself that I had been raped,” she says.

Wood identifies two key reasons for why it’s difficult for women to discuss these issues publicly: “no faith in the system and fear of their perpetrators… I’m here to tell you that I’m afraid so that we can identify the problem.”

Because Wood isn’t going anywhere, as she explains — when people ask why she stays in the industry, her answer is this: “You have a much better chance at fighting it from the inside. You have to stay and fight. Otherwise, they win.”

Watch Wood’s video below.