AceShowbiz -

Emma Thompson opens up about sexual abuse she experienced as a child. The Oscar-winning actress tells U.K.'s Daily Mirror that a magician paid by her parents to perform at her 8th birthday party made sexual advances.

"He was an old man with gray hair. And he took me behind a door and said, 'Would you like a sweetie?' " Thompson recalls. "I said, 'Oh, yes please,' but I had a funny feeling. He gave me the sweet and said, 'Will you give me a kiss?' and I said yes. So I went up to kiss him on the cheek and he planted his mouth on mine, stuck his tongue in my mouth and wiggled it about. I thought it was my fault - children always think it's their fault."

The "Sense and Sensibility" star says that she revealed the story because she was worried about children's nowadays, who are easily exposed to explicit materials. "The sort of sexual questions being put to young kids is horrifying to me, but that's what's out there - boys and girls watching pornography, boys showing girls hardcore porn on their iPhones. I'm in a constant state of anxiety but I know these kids have to negotiate these thickets by themselves," she explains.

"We can only help by listening, being aware, by not turning away and by not saying, 'Oh, that's all so disgusting I can't even think about it,' " Thompson continues, adding that she made a handbook concerning emotions and sexual feelings for her 13-year-old daughter, Gaia.

Thompson will next be seen alongside Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti and Colin Farrell in "Saving Mr. Banks". The movie will hit U.S. theaters on December 13.