British actress Emily Lloyd struggled to open up about the sexual abuse she suffered as a child because she had "shut out those memories" for years.

The A River Runs Through It star claimed in her autobiography Wish I Was There that she was targeted by a male family friend when she was a young girl, but admitted she kept it to herself over fears nobody would believe her.

She wrote, "He would come into my room after I'd gone to bed and subject me to acts so abhorrent it's too painful to recount. They were accompanied by the classic threats; if I told a soul about what was happening, worse would happen. I felt dirty and worthless, invaded and helpless."

Lloyd, who is the daughter of Only Fools and Horses actor Roger Lloyd-Pack, now admits she found it difficult to relive her ordeal as she penned the book.

She tells British newspaper The People, "I didn't know if I could face reliving those parts of my life again. For years I'd shut out those memories, so to open them up again was hard at first.

"But gradually the more I addressed it the more I began to see all my experiences - the good and the bad - shaped the person I am today."