Michael Egan, the man suing “X-Men” director Bryan Singer for alleged sexual assault when he was a teenager, spoke out for the first time Thursday saying, “I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse… No one at a young age ever deserves to go through the horrific junk that I went through as a kid.”
With his lawyer, Jeff Herman, by his side, Egan held a news conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Egan, who was a model and aspiring actor at the time, claims the alleged abuse began when he was 15. The now 31-year-old said he has been undergoing trauma therapy to help him cope with what happened. “I developed a drinking problem to numb that pain for years,” Egan said.
Also read: ‘X-Men’ Director Bryan Singer Sexual Assault Allegations: Read the Full Lawsuit
Attorney Herman told a crowd of assembled reporters he had been investigating the case for six months. “Hollywood’s got a problem,” he said after claiming pedophile rings exist in the entertainment industry. “I have heard from many, many people who allege as children they were abused.”
Bryan Singer‘s lawyer, Marty Singer, has already said the civil lawsuit Egan filed on Wednesday is “completely without merit.”
“We are very confident that Bryan will be vindicated in this absurd and defamatory lawsuit,” he told TheWrap. “It is obvious that this case was filed in an attempt to get publicity at the time when Bryan’ s new movie is about to open in a few weeks.”
“X-Men: Days of Future Past” is scheduled to arrive in theaters on May 23.
Also read: Bryan Singer Lawyer Says Sexual Abuse Lawsuit is ‘Completely Without Merit’
20th Century Fox, which is releasing the film, issued a statement about the lawsuit Thursday after Egan’s news conference. “These are serious allegations, and they will be resolved in the appropriate forum. This is a personal matter, which Bryan Singer and his representatives are addressing separately,” the studio said.
When asked about the timing of the lawsuit, and whether it was meant to coincide with the film’s release, Herman insisted, “This has nothing to do with the movie.”
The suit alleges Singer provided Egan with drugs and alcohol and flew him to Hawaii for sex on more than one occasion in 1999 where Singer continued to “anally rape” him, and claims that Egan was not the only underage boy who was abused.
See photo: Bryan Singer’s Alleged Sexual Assault Victim Revealed at Age 17
The suit details abuse that allegedly began shortly after Egan was lured to parties at a house in Encino, Calif. where a high school friend lived. The house, known as the M & C Estate, was often the site of “notorious parties” where adult males allegedly preyed on young boys.
“I had drugs put in drinks, liquor poured down my throat,” Egan said. “I was raped numerous times in that house by numerous individuals.”
He continued, “You were like a piece of meat to these people. They passed you around to each other. If I had to define that house, I’d call it evil.”
When asked why Egan waited until now to file suit against Singer, Herman said that Egan’s mother did in fact call the police when the alleged abuse was brought to her attention in 1999. The LAPD questioned Singer at the time and brought in FBI Special Agent Joseph Brine to investigate, but Herman was unable to say why the authorities did not pursue the case.
Also read: Sex Abuse Support Group on Bryan Singer Allegations: Don’t Let Director’s ‘Fame’ Cloud Judgment
It was after the police reports were made when Egan stopped visiting the house in Encino and the alleged abuse stopped.
Egan and two other boys filed suit in 2001 against Marc Collins-Rector and Chad Shackley who lived at M & C Estate and arranged the sexual encounters with Singer, according to Wednesday’s lawsuit. The plaintiffs received a default judgment in their favor in that case, as Collins-Rector and Shackley had fled to Spain amid these and a number of other criminal and civil pedophilia charges.
Herman said that he filed the case against Singer in Hawaii, since the state’s window to file child abuse cases for the incidents described closes on April 24. He said he would be filing three to four more lawsuits naming other individuals involved in the alleged abuse in Hawaii. He did not give names, though he said those named in the next suits would be “other Hollywood types.”
Also read: Fox Responds to Bryan Singer Abuse Allegations
As for filing lawsuits for the alleged abuses in the Los Angeles area, the statute of limitations has expired in California to file a civil suit for the actions that allegedly took place there.
Herman also said that the young victims were allegedly taken to Las Vegas and Lake Havasu as well, so further filings will depend on statues of limitations in Nevada and Arizona.