David Schwimmer claims UK is underestimating amount of child abuse victims

David Schwimmer claims the United Kingdom is underestimating the amount of children who are victims of sexual abuse.

The ‘Friends’ star says becoming a father to five-year-old daughter Cleo, who he has with wife Zoë Buckman, has made these issues carry an "even more emotional" importance to him.

He said: "When all of us on the TV show [‘Friends’] first became celebrities, we were all approached by all these different charities, ‘will you come on board? Will you do this? Get involved, will you speak out?’

"I have several friends, men and women, who are victims of child sexual abuse. Especially as a father of a 5-year-old daughter the entire subject matter is even more emotional and more meaningful to me.

"In the States our figures are very different and I feel are closer to the truth. In the States it’s one in four girls, and one in six boys [that are victims of abuse]."

And the 49-year-old actor is glad he can lend his name to raise awareness of important causes such as these.

Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he added: "That’s the great benefit of celebrity, to use it to do this, to communicate something more important, something bigger than oneself."

Meanwhile, David – who is best known for playing Ross Geller in the TV series – previously admitted he never quite got to grips with fame.

He said: "I remember very well when celebrity first came to me. It was not something that made me comfortable. It was almost painful. I didn’t like being treated differently than who I was.

"I just didn’t respond well to it. I didn’t understand why people were treating me as if I were special. I found that painful because I hadn’t changed. I didn’t like the idea that someone could suddenly get special treatment for doing nothing other than being on TV."