‘For so long I blamed myself’ – Gabriel Byrne speaks out about his experience of being abused by priest

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Irish Post

November 8, 2020

By Jack Beresford

https://www.irishpost.com/news/for-so-long-i-blamed-myself-gabriel-byrne-speaks-out-about-his-experience-of-being-abused-by-priest-197246

Gabriel Byrne has spoken of how he felt “ashamed and guilty” for many years after he was abused by a priest at the age of just 11.

The Usual Suspects star has opened up about the abuse in his new memoir, Walking With Ghosts, in which he recounts how he first moved from his family home in Dublin to St Richard’s College in Worcestershire to train for the priesthood.

In an abridged extract published by the Mail on Sunday, Byrne recalled how he was initially taken under the wing of a kind priest at the college.

Their relationship turned sinister, however, when that same priest molested him.

Recalling the night the clergyman first revealed his true intentions, Byrne wrote: “The priest’s breath was sour and hot as he moved toward me. Then there was blackness.

“Even years later…