LOS ANGELES – As Goose in the 1986 Top Gun, he may have played a fighter co-pilot, but it took quite some time for Anthony Edwards to face a personal battle.

“Wasn’t until I was 51 that I started looking at the fact that I was abused, assaulted as a child. When men are abused they tend to bury it,” he said. 

In an effort to not bury it anymore, he started working with 1in6.org, eventually becoming chairman of the board. The nonprofit supports men who have been sexually abused, which the organization says is one in six. 

“We’re normalizing the conversation and hoping to take stigma away from it,” he said.

One of the ways the nonprofit is doing that is through a new film called The Tricky Part that Edwards is executive producing. It's an account of one man’s story surviving abuse. It was supposed to do the film festival circuit, but then the pandemic started.

So the film team decided to stream the film live instead, including a talk back with Edwards and others. 

“This all came up I said we need to get this out. It’s important for men to see this, and families,” he said.

Edwards says he hopes people watch the film and feel brave enough to stand up for wrongdoing, and just start talking about it. The goal is for men to get help sooner so recovery time doesn’t have to be 51 years like it was for him. 

Edwards hopes using his platform to share his experience may encourage men to speak up, too. 

The Tricky Part will air at 5pm PT at 1in6.org