Tim Roth Reveals Terrifying Details About His Grandfather While Growing Up

Accomplished actor Tim Roth didn’t hold back his personal trauma in a recent interview with The Guardian about sexual abuse in his past, going so far as to refer to his grandfather as “a f**king rapist.” Roth has spoken out about his sexual abuse in the past, but had never divulged details of his assailant’s identity, but it sounds like he’s no longer interested in keeping the secret.

In 1999, Roth directed The War Zone, a film about a family being torn apart by the secret of a sexually abusive father, a story Roth was all too familiar with.

Roth didn’t want to be defined by his abuse and sought other ways to express his trauma. “You want to be a survivor and the first thing that helps you do that and helps you get through it is speaking and finding your voice,” says Roth. “I’d been wanting to direct a film for years and told my agent to start looking for a script.”

The filmmaking process was cathartic, according to Roth. He describes, “If you are a survivor of abuse and you get the opportunity to tell a story about that subject, then you can really get in there and tell the truth. It was a fantastic chance for me to exorcise a lot of demons.”

In previous interviews, Roth had kept his assailant’s identity a secret, claiming, “It happened during my childhood up to my early teens and although I’m not going to say who it was, he’s long gone now – and I hasten to add it wasn’t my father or mother.”

However, when the subject of his father came up, Roth was incredibly frank, revealing, “He was an abused kid, my dad, and it was a terrible childhood that he had, and he took that s**t seriously.”

“He was a damaged soul. I loved him. He was funnier than f**k,” Roth gushed. Tragically, Roth also revealed the connection he shared with his father, confessing, “He was abused. And I was abused. But I was not abused by him. I was abused by his abuser.”

Once his abuser’s identity was revealed, the floodgates were open, with Roth pronouncing, “He was a f**king rapist. But nobody had the language. Nobody knew what to do. That’s why I made The War Zone.”

[H/T Daily Mail]