Christina Ricci urges her followers to 'believe victims'

Christina Ricci has urged her social media followers to "believe" victims of abuse.

The 43-year-old actress has taken to Instagram to encourage her followers to take abuse allegations more seriously.

Christina - who shot to stardom as a child actor - wrote: "So sometimes people we have loved and admired do horrible things. They might not do these things to us and we only know who they were to us but that doesn't mean they didn't do horrible things and to discredit the abused is a crime

"People we know as ‘awesome guys’ can be predators and abusers. It’s tough to accept but we have to. If we say we support victims - women, children, men, boys - then we must be able to take this stance."

In a follow-up message, Christina explained: "I've known lots of 'awesome guys' who were lovely to me who have been proven to be abusers privately.

"I've also had personal experience with this.

"Believe victims. It's not easy to come forward. It's not easy to get a conviction."

Christina posted the message shortly after Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis apologised for writing a letter of support for Danny Masterson.

The 47-year-old actor was recently sentenced to 30 years to life in prison after being found guilty of two counts of forcible rape against two women, and his former 'That '70s Show' co-stars took to social media over the weekend to issue an apology for writing a letter of support.

In a video posted on Instagram, Ashton said: "We are aware of the pain that has been caused by the character letters that we wrote on behalf of Danny Masterson."

Mila, 40 - who has been married to Ashton since 2015 - then added: "We support victims. We have done this historically through our work and will continue to do so in the future."

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